Politico.com | Forbes.com | Irin Carmon
Salon is experimenting with a donor model ($45 a year) called Salon Core that offers perks to members, including access to behind-the-scenes webcasts, chats with writers, and early viewings of Salon-produced concerts and documentaries. “Think NPR and its semi-annual pledge drives,” writes Jeff Bercovici. “But Salon’s basic product — its journalism — will remain free to all.” Salon founder and former editor-in-chief David Talbot is back as CEO (he stepped down in 2005) and wants to spread the message that “the political system is failing to address the needs of the American people – both Republican and Democratic parties. …We are trying to initiate a national conversation about where the hell we go at this point.” Keach Hagey asks Talbot about Slate’s difficulties. He tells her:
I feel fraternal feeling for Slate. If they were to die or go away, I would feel like my twin brother had left or departed. I’m rooting for Slate. Our journalism is a little bit more crusading, perhaps. As the Great Recession grinds on, I think America needs the kind of crusading journalism that Salon represents. Married to that is [our] taking our cause directly to the readers. If you believe in this kind of journalism, you’ve got to support it. Slate hasn’t made an effort to develop that.
Irin Carmon posted on her Tumblr that she’s joining Salon in November to cover culture and politics. “I’ll be writing about many of the same things I was lucky to cover at Jezebel — the politics of gender, feminism, reproductive rights, where they all intersect with pop culture — but with somewhat less frequency and, where applicable, more reporting.”
> November 2010: Salon.com may face an uphill battle for a buyer
> February 2011: Salon, Newser.com sale talks collapse over price
Comments