After a difficult stretch for several liberal digital outlets, Salon has become the latest to close. The publication announced Thursday that it was ending operations after 31 years, citing changing economics for independent online journalism and a publishing model it said could no longer be sustained.
In its farewell, Salon said it had helped show what digital journalism could become and expressed hope that its work would remain meaningful.
The outlet leaves behind a contentious record, critics argue, including misleading coverage, politically charged commentary, plagiarism controversies and headlines that drew widespread condemnation. Among the examples cited are a headline hoping the Boston Marathon bomber would be white and another declaring that white men must be stopped to protect humanity’s future.
A particularly disputed story appeared in 2021, when Salon reported that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had signed a bill requiring students and professors to register their political views with the state. The law, House Bill 233, instead called for surveys at certain institutions to assess intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity.
Salon’s headline was later changed after fact-checks and criticism. The publication acknowledged that the story had created a misleading impression of what the law required. The original claim had also been shared by horror author Stephen King, former Obama campaign staffer Jon Cooper and the pro-Democratic group MeidasTouch.
The article argues that Salon continued using inflammatory language about Republicans in the years that followed. Ahead of the 2024 election, it described the GOP as a terrorist group and warned that MAGA and Christian nationalism posed a greater danger than Hamas. Salon writers also compared Donald Trump and his allies to Nazis.
In a September 2024 piece, blogger Chauncey DeVega accused Trump and his supporters of deliberately echoing Nazi ideas. Writing after several attempts on Trump’s life, DeVega also claimed Trump intended to create a “Fourth Reich” and carry out ethnic cleansing.
The publication faced criticism for other stories, too. In 2015, it ran an essay by Todd Nickerson, who identified himself as a pedophile but said he had never acted on his attraction to children. The piece described pedophilia as a sexual orientation and urged readers to respond with understanding and support.
Salon later removed that essay, along with an article about incestuous attraction between parents and children. A separate story defending human-dolphin sex remains online, the article notes.
Salon was valued at $107 million when it went public in 1999. Its closure prompted a harsh reaction from independent journalist Andy Ngo, who posted a profane message accusing the outlet of dishonesty.
