Salon Ends Publication After 31 Years

Salon announced Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, that it is ceasing publication after 31 years. An unsigned farewell titled "Goodbye from Salon," posted by the publisher, said business realities of independent digital journalism had changed profoundly and its publishing model was no longer sustainable. "Salon was never just a website. It was an idea about what journalism could be, born at a moment when the internet was still a largely unexplored frontier," the letter said. "It has been an extraordinary privilege." David Talbot and colleagues from the San Francisco Examiner founded the site, which the New York Post dates to Nov. 20, 1995 and the Globe and Mail to the mid-1990s. At the five-year anniversary in 2000, Talbot said the timing was right because readers were tired of bland, market-tested media and the internet allowed a strong voice. The Globe and Mail reported high-profile writers included Jake Tapper and Glenn Greenwald; editors Talbot and Joan Walsh became prominent progressive voices; Salon used Princess Diana's death in 1997 to expand into breaking news; and Slate launched the next year. On Bluesky on Nov. 5, 2026, Wajahat Ali wrote that Salon published him as a young writer and gave him a great platform, and that he was sad to see it fold. No factual dispute appears in the record over the shutdown or its stated reason. Unresolved are the fate of staff beyond some reported job losses and what becomes of Salon's online archives.