The fall of Salon.com

[riversedge]

They deserve to fall and fall fast!



The fall of Salon.com

How a digital trailblazer and progressive powerhouse lost its way.


By Kelsey Sutton and Peter Sterne

05/27/16 12:34 AM EDT

Read more: http://www.politico.com/media/story/2016/05/the-fall-of-saloncom-004551#ixzz49yERBCpC
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...........In recent months Salon has refused to do that. It has developed a reputation for being not just sympathetic to Bernie Sanders, but overtly hostile to Hillary Clinton, unable to distinguish her from Donald Trump in the same way Ralph Nader saw no difference between Al Gore and George W. Bush in 2000. Salon contributor H.A. Goodman has written several columns for the publication with titles like “I wouldn’t vote for Dick Cheney, so I won’t vote for Hillary Clinton: An unrepentant only-Sanders voter fires back at critics” and “Please, FBI — you’re our last hope: The Democratic Party’s future rests upon your probe of Hillary Clinton’s emails.” (The columns spurred a debate in Salon’s newsroom after a staffer sent an email to colleagues saying Goodman’s articles reflected badly on the company.)

Actually, Salon isn’t uniformly pro-Sanders. Editor in chief David Daley told POLITICO that he aims to cover all of the intellectual arguments surrounding the Democratic Party, and that Goodman’s viewpoint is one of “a wide range of voices assessing the Clinton and Sanders campaigns” on Salon. Late last year, the site faced allegations of bias against Sanders when Daley hired feminist writer Amanda Marcotte, who got to work writing negative stories about “Bernie Bros.”

The more stinging critique is about the quality of what Salon publishes – and Goodman’s pieces in particular have reignited lamentations about the site’s downward spiral. Walsh and Miller have been outspoken on Twitter about some of the stories from the site, as have many others. Two guys even created a vicious parody account, @salondotcom, to mock Salon’s increasingly strident brand of leftism, with fake tweets like “Ten signs your cat might be racist” and “Should GMOs come with trigger warnings?”

“It's really sad,” Talking Points Memo publisher Josh Marshall tweeted last month. “These Salon headlines are like the bastard child of World Net Daily and the LaRouche Times … In retrospect it's scary to think that Salon was maybe always just one @joanwalsh or @KerryLauerman away from derp oblivion.”.............................

Read more: http://www.politico.com/media/story/2016/05/the-fall-of-saloncom-004551#ixzz49yEBK2zL
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook

[Iliyah]

1. Dark side where they went

[realmirage]

2. They made themselves irrelevant. No one will trust them again

Except the hacks

[Cha]

3. Josh Marshall~

“It's really sad,” Talking Points Memo publisher Josh Marshall tweeted last month. “These Salon headlines are like the bastard child of World Net Daily and the LaRouche Times … In retrospect it's scary to think that Salon was maybe always just one @joanwalsh or @KerryLauerman away from derp oblivion.”.............................

Aren't these the articles that gdp soaked up like a sponge?

[otohara]

13. Being Compared to WND Yikes

but well deserved.

Salon is dead to me.

[NastyRiffraff]

16. Oh yeah, they just LOVE H.A. Goodman!

Goodman makes about as much sense as a newt, no matter who he supports.

[Cha]

17. And, now Salon and this bogus writer are in a downfall..

Wow, Riff.. Just Desserts so soon!

[BobbyDrake]

4. I saw this yesterday, but on mobile where I couldn't post about it.

This article doesn't even scratch the surface, I think. Salon has become a haven for every dudebro author out there who can slap together anything even remotely anti-Clinton. It began with Salon reposting HAHA Goodman from HuffPo, being one of the few outlets dumb enough to pay for that content. Then they published Walker Bragman, Goodman's top protege. And their own staff is no different. All of the pro-Sanders writers have something in common, and it's a chromosome.

The worst part is how the entire world seems to think that Salon having one single pro-Clinton author, Amanda Marcotte, somehow balances the scales for the 7-10 other authors (at any given time) that they're paying for anti-Clinton or anti-Democrat content.

Salon is now just a Newsmax for the Left. It's a damn shame.

[teamster633]

5. It doesn't help that the site is barely readable on a desktop with a fast connection.

It is whole unreadable on wifi. When the Hillary-hate got unbearable here I tried to find an alternate site, but I didn't have the patience to even register the content there. Looks like it was just as well.

[sheshe2]

11. I thought it was just me.

That page stutters and burps when I try to follow a link. I guess it is unreadable in more ways than one, teamster.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

6. I used to be a paying subscriber to Salon

Till they started publishing Rand Paulite Glenn Greenwald's anti-Obama screed.

[yallerdawg]

7. There should be an attempt at impartiality.

Owners can editorialize all they want.

But "readers" want options or they'll go elsewhere, and the 'site' loses revenue!

"The Nation" went all in for Bernie - but hedged a little with Joan Walsh and a few others.

"Huffington Post" went so anti-Trump, they kept him in the Entertainment pages - until you-know-what.

Neutral impartiality in moderation, I say!

[Starry Messenger]

8. Did they get sold?

The only links I follow there anymore are to Amanda Morcotte. We need to rescue her and get her to Slate or something.

[Her Sister]

9. One of my favorites was the Pilot writer! So cool!

Here this guy! http://www.askthepilot.com/tsa-summer-meltdown/

I liked salon.com so much that when they asked people to pay to subscribe I was in that first batch/bunch!

Now, I only look at Amanda Marcotte's corner!

[workinclasszero]

10. "Salon contributor H.A. Goodman..."

Surefire way to flush your rep down the drain, Salon

[Walk away]

12. It couldn't happen to a worse site. Salon won't be the only one to go.

A lot of these places won't be able to walk back from the insanity they have indulged in. I am guessing we will see a regular roll call of defunct or marginalized "news" and social political web sites.

[wildeyed]

14. I gave up on them long before this primary began.

Too much stupid clickbait, recycled over and over.

[SharonClark]

15. More than Goodman and Bragman - Don't forget the rest of the Salon bros

Bill Curry: We must smash the Clinton machine: Democratic elites and the media sold out to Hillary this time, but change is coming

Sean Illing: This is why people don't trust Hillary Clinton: Email scandal is a reminder that her guardedness is ultimately self-defeating

Paul Rosenberg: Either one will lead to war: Hawkish Hillary and reckless Trump could both lead to prolonged new wars.

Ben Norton: Sanders condemns pro-austerity “colonial takeover” of Puerto Rico; Clinton supports it. Bernie calls U.S. debt crisis plan "morally unacceptable" and a gift for "vulture capitalists." Hillary backs it.

And the biggest "bro" - the anti-feminist pseudo-intellectual Camille Paglia.