Salon – Bias and Credibility

These media sources are moderate to strongly biased toward liberal/progressive causes through story selection and/or political affiliation.  They may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports, and omit information that may damage liberal/progressive causes. Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy. See all Left Bias sources.

• Overall, we rate Salon Left Biased based on story selection that strongly favors the left and endorsements of political positions affiliated with the Democratic Party. We also rate them Mostly Factual for reporting rather than High due to one-sided reporting and a failed fact check.

Detailed Report

Bias Rating: LEFT (-6.7)
Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL (3.2)
Country: USA
MBFC’s Country Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Website
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY

History

Founded in 1995, Salon is a progressive/liberal news and opinion website created by David Talbot, Gary Kamiya, Andrew Ross, Mignon Khargie, Scott Rosenberg, and Laura Miller. Salon publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events and has a left-leaning editorial stance. Its current editor-in-chief is Joseph Neese.

Read our profile on the United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

Salon is owned by Find.co, a privately held media company that acquired Salon.com in November 2023 from prior owners Drew Schoentrup and Chris Richmond. Salon states that it continues to operate as a standalone U.S.-based brand within Find.co’s broader media portfolio. Revenue is generated through advertising, subscriptions, content licensing, and other digital media partnerships.

Analysis / Bias

In review, Salon focuses heavily on U.S. politics, culture, current affairs, science, health, and food. Story selection and editorial framing strongly favor the left, with frequent criticism of Donald Trump, MAGA Republicans, conservative policy positions, and the political right. Current examples include Trump didn’t learn the biggest lesson from his first term, Trump can’t sell his lies, even in Versailles, Trump wrecked America’s 250th in DC, but other blue cities will save it, and Hegseth escalates his military purge. These examples demonstrate a consistently left-leaning editorial perspective through story selection, headline wording, and framing.

Salon uses emotionally loaded wording in headlines and articles, especially in political commentary and analysis. Articles are often labeled as analysis, commentary, or columns; however, opinionated content appears alongside reported news in the same News & Politics section, which can blur the distinction for some readers. Salon also publishes content from outside partners such as ProPublica, The Conversation, The 19th, and Votebeat, and most factual claims are sourced to credible outlets, documents, or subject-matter experts. Salon’s science and health coverage is generally evidence-based, though its political coverage remains strongly left-leaning.

It was revealed by numerous media outlets, including the left-leaning CNN, that Salon waited one year to correct a fact related to Ron DeSantis. See failed fact check below.

Failed Fact Checks

• Gov. Ron DeSantis “just signed legislation requiring students, faculty, and staff at Florida’s public universities and colleges to register their political views with the state.” – False (Corrected)

Overall, we rate Salon Left Biased based on story selection that strongly favors the left and endorsements of political positions affiliated with the Democratic Party. We also rate them Mostly Factual for reporting rather than High due to one-sided reporting and a failed fact check. (D. Van Zandt 5/15/2016) Updated (07/06/2026)

Source: https://www.salon.com