The Wall Street Journal reports that Salon Magazine, one of the oldest and best-known Internet-only newsmagazines, is considering putting itself up for sale. Over its 15-year history, the magazine has tried just about every method possible of finding profitability—paywalls, advertising, subscription plans,, editorial decisions, and more. It has managed to survive this long, but apparently it is nearing the end of its rope. Like Newsweek, it is seeking a merger, new owner, or other means to survive.
This revelation highlights some of the problems that newsmedia have making money on the Internet. The problem doesn’t just strike newspapers and magazines that are finding the Internet is killing off their print market; publications that started out on the Internet can still have exactly the same problems. If a prominent publication like Salon can go 15 years and still not find a way to make money, it doesn’t exactly bode well for other publications moving on-line.
(Found via PaidContent.)
Salon’s problem is that it has declined so precipitously in quality. It’s certainly not worth paying for (and I was a subscriber for 3-4 years), and it’s hardly even worth reading for free.
It went from a smart magazine about tech, politics and science-y stuff to a tabloid gossip mag, intermingled with a feminist hate-rag, all tied up in a tired lefty wrapper.
I never minded their left lean when they were great, but these days it seems like they’re only exist to report celebrity nonsense and hating Republicans.
I’ve switched to Slate for my daily dose of American politics and news. It’s far from perfect, and I wish they’d do a lot more long form journalism, but at least it’s still readable.
Salon’s dying because their product isn’t good any more.