Submission + - Salon, One of the Web's Pioneering News Outlets, Shuts Down (salon.com)
oumuamua writes: Launched in November 1995, Salon was one of the internet's first digital-native publications, it combined politics, culture, and criticism with a distinct editorial voice. In its farewell note, the staff wrote that the site set out to prove "the internet could bring journalism and readers together in new ways," helping define what digital publishing could become. The shutdown announcement thanks the generations of writers, editors, and readers who built the site over three decades but offers no detail on severance, archives, or what happens to existing content going forward. The Washington Post notes Salon had a closely watched IPO in 1999 during the dot-com boom but its stock performance was dismal for years afterward and that the outlet was home over the years to contributors ranging from Glenn Greenwald and Camille Paglia to Jake Tapper and James Poniewozik. Notably, longtime staff writer Amanda Marcotte posted on Patreon that Salon is "the latest victim of AI's predations" — that AI-driven search and content tools, rather than just the usual decline of digital ad revenue, helped finish off one of the web's longest-running news brands.
