Salon Reshuffled
The only thing more perennial than the Salon–death–watch story is the Salon-near-viability story, so your guess is as good as mine what David Talbot's exit as Salon's editor in chief and CEO means for the longterm future of web journalism's ancient past.
Talbot tells The New York Times' David Carr that the site will announce its first profitable quarter tomorrow. His CEO position will be filled by Elizabeth Hambrecht, and his EIC job will go to the formidable Joan Walsh.
Kremlinology: This continues the ascent of both Hambrecht (who is the daughter of major shareholder Bill Hambrecht, Salon's original IPO impresario) and Walsh, who took over from Scott Rosenberg when he left as vice president in November. "Betsy" Hambrecht's steady takeover of key spots in the Salon structure has been seen as evidence that Salon Media Group is now a mere subsidiary of the Hambrecht organization, and it would be callow to imagine there isn't some truth in that view. On the other hand, Walsh has been a quiet but crucial figure in Salon history since the Pleistocene period, and has done some great work over the years, so her succeeding Talbot is a perfectly logical move. Also, Scott Rosenberg (who is obviously still present on the Salon blog) tells me he is just taking time off to write a book (which you can find out about here and here), and I have always considered Rosenberg an honest character.
Talbot's cover story, that he is working on a book about Robert Kennedy, sounds considerably dicier, and it defies logic that, having devoted a decade to the welfare of Salon, he would choose this time, just as the "profit" is coming through, to make his exit. Walsh tells the Times: "I think that when we went to a subscription model, we lost a lot of casual readers… My job is to get people's awareness up and let them know that you can read Salon for free." This may be a tacit admission that its subscription model isn't setting the world on fire, but before you scoff at Salon as an obscure leftwing relic nobody cares about anymore, just remember: The site's Alexa traffic ranking is well ahead of NationalReview.com, Instapundit.com, and (by a factor that makes my flesh creep) Reason.com.
"I want us to be helpful in figuring where the Democrats go next," Walsh says, "but I also want us to be the ones to tell you why America's Top Model is the best show on television." This last bit can only be seen as a classy nod to powerhouse Heather Havrilesky. Whatever it takes to keep them going, I'm always happy to see Salon get another of its many leases on life, and wish Walsh and the new gang the very best of luck.