Posted on 01/22/2003 11:49:14 PM PST by Drango
Salon's New Deal
A letter from the editor
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Jan. 22, 2003 | OK, here's the deal: Starting today, you can gain access to Salon in either of two ways: You can pay our low subscription price (as little as 5 cents a day) or you can click through a multiple-screen advertisement.
We believe this is a simple and fair system. It's a good deal for readers because it gives you a choice. It's a good deal for advertisers because if they're paying for readers' entry into Salon, they should be assured that their ads will actually be seen. And it's a good deal for Salon, because it will bring in new revenue and ensure that we keep publishing well into the future.
Nearly 60,000 of you have signed up to become Salon Premium subscribers -- far more than the doomsayers predicted would ever pay for our editorial services. But to break even, Salon needs to sign up more of you.
Why can't Salon make it on advertising dollars alone? We're often asked this by readers who, even at this post-boom stage of the Web, still believe that information should be free. The answer can be found by clicking on those ghosts in your bookmarks -- in the past couple of years, the Web has become a graveyard for dozens of creative, independent sites. Even in the glory days of online publishing, advertising alone couldn't pay the rent. And now, with the entire media industry still suffering an advertising swoon, it's even more impossible to make ends meet through ads alone. Finally, consider this stark fact: Approximately 80 percent of the ad dollars on the Web are funneled to the top 20 sites, all of which are run by corporate giants. The result is there's not much left over for independent publishers like Salon.
Is Salon worth the subscription price or the additional commitment of clicking through our ads? You'll have to answer that for yourself in the coming days. But we can tell you this for certain: Every day you come to our home page, you will find writers and articles that you won't be able to find anywhere else in the increasingly uniform media landscape. Stories like David Lindorff's exposé of the secret air travel blacklist that includes the names of political activists; Max Blumenthal's report on the wave of sex murders that has claimed the lives of hundreds of Mexican women who work in the sweatshops in a free-trade boomtown; Joe Conason's crusade to spread the word about Sen. Trent Lott's shameful embrace of white supremacy -- a key part of the aggressive blogging campaign that forced the media and political establishments to finally take notice and demand Lott's ouster as Senate majority leader.
Conason is just one of the writers who give Salon its unique voice, a stable that includes two recently returned favorites -- Anne Lamott and Jake Tapper -- as well as a starry new addition, Tina Brown.
Salon's tough, independent voice is needed more than ever. With the Bush administration consolidating its one-party rule and a toothless media long ago abdicating its role as watchdog, the public needs alternative sources of information like Salon to stay informed and alert. This isn't partisan carping; it's the essential function of a press in a free society, and with war and economic crisis looming, it's more critical than ever. And yet docility prevails in the corpulent world of corporate media -- a passivity enlivened only by the raucous Bush cheerleading at Fox News and your local talk radio station.
Salon's refusal to get with the mainstream program extends to other beats as well, including culture and technology. While corporate pressures have turned many entertainment and tech writers into extensions of studio and software marketing departments, Salon's criticism and reporting in these areas has been consistently marked by its uncompromising intelligence. Our movie and book coverage, as well as our tech reporting, is not meant to produce ad copy blurbs; it's aimed at providing trustworthy guidance for our readers.
If this is the kind of journalism you hunger for and come to Salon for, please help us keep producing it. Either subscribe today -- or give some of your time and attention to our advertisers, the companies whose support will make sure there is still free entry to Salon. We can't do it without you.
David Talbot
Editor
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And what would it cost to never hear the shrill voice of joe again?
Because leftist T-shirts and Al Gore's book just ain't that lucrative a market?
Last trade 5 cents per share.
So you've deduced that Bill Maher is my "hero", despite the fact that I think the guy's just another Hollywood blowhard and a moron? I suppose it would be too much to ask that you point out anything I've ever posted demonstrating any fondness for Bill Maher? Go ahead, I'll give you all the time you need, be it years if necessary.
I could say Lenin, Stalin, or Mao are your hero, but it doesn't make it so. Again, give me a break.
Those who would silence dissent concern me far more than the dissenters.
Grampa's boycotting Chrysler because of some statement a loony-tune VP made (A boycott I agree with and am participating in, by the way) but I didn't read where Grampa said the idiot didn't have the right to say what he wanted. Grampa just said he wasn't buying a Chrysler product BECAUSE of Chrysler's "implied" un-American attitude.
TD on the other hand, thinks boycotting companies and those with opposing views is un-American unto itself. I disagree...but TD doesn't say I don't have the right to boycott...just that they disagree with me performing the act.
A question for both of you...What do we do when we go into the ballot booths? Do we not vote for those who we feel are the closest to sharing our beliefs? Sure we do. And we're expressing our dissatisfaction with the other candidates by not voting for them.
Boycotters like Grampa and moi have just decided we won't "vote" for Chrysler's public positions by the only way we can that makes an impact on corporations -- by not using their products. But TD is perfectly within their rights to vote as he/she wishes. But I look at it like this...if a stranger came up and slapped my sister, me and that stranger would be rolling around on the ground in seconds. To me, that's what the idiot from Chrysler did...he slapped my sister. Or my brother. He slapped fellow Americans and it pisses me off. So, as I did by rolling around on the ground with the stranger, I punish him the only way I can. But TD doesn't have to look at the world through my glasses. Hell, TD'll probably be better off just closing their eyes than looking at the world through my glasses.
So...what did come first? The chicken or the...
Ahhh...what a country!!
What makes them think that someone who
(1)Is interested in looking at Salon's (pornographic?) premium content, and
(2)Is such a cheapskate they want to avoid a $20 subscription fee,
would be able to afford a Mercedes?
Only by inference would you think I said that. What I actually said was that the act of trying to silence dissent is un-American, a statement many would agree with.
To me, that's what the idiot from Chrysler did...he slapped my sister. Or my brother. He slapped fellow Americans and it pisses me off.
Are we talking about the same issue here? The boycott is in response to Mercedes buying ads on Salon.com. I suspect there are a lot of people branding Salon as "un-American" without ever having read it. It's just a popular target of bashing. I'm not saying they don't have some real lefties on staff nor that they don't publish some articles that are very questioning of Bush, Republicans, and conservative ideas. But that doesn't make one anti-American. It just means they hold a contrary view, which is their right.
As I said before, I'm far more concerned about those who would silence dissent than those who are dissenting. I firmly believe in the marketplace of ideas and may the best idea win.
If it makes you feel any better, I suppose I'm a de facto boycotter of Daimler-Chrysler since I'm not in the market for a new Mercedes anyway.
Grampa said he was boycotting Chrysler. If I made an ill-advised leap to think his boycotting Chrysler was for the same reason I'm boycotting Chrysler, I apologize. Mine is because of what the idiot VP said about conservatives.
What I actually said was that the act of trying to silence dissent is un-American, a statement many would agree with. I guess it depends on what "YOUR" definition of "silence dissent" is, since my tongue-in-cheek definitions seem to get your dander up. Maybe Grampa wants to silence dissent, I don't know. I just know nothing he's written on this thread indicates that. Voting your conscience, either at the polling booth or in the market place, is not only a right of every American...but it's a moral imperative that we do so! You don't let other folks' politics or policies affect your purchasing decisions, but don't fool yourself, you've made a conscious decision to overlook them so you've gone through the same thought process Grampa and I do...you just vote differently.
If it makes you feel any better, I suppose I'm a de facto boycotter of Daimler-Chrysler since I'm not in the market for a new Mercedes anyway. As for this comment...I have to admit I've never been called a dumb-ass before in such a circuitous route -- although you made the same kind of ill-advised leap you belittled me for making. But, you know what, I've learned that those who think they're intellectually superior to others use this name-calling and/or belittling tactic quite often...so I'll just let it pass and not respond to your foolishness in the future.
To argue with someone who is obviously so much superior to moi, at least in their own minds, is futile.
Have a good day.
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