Salon, the Web site that helped pioneer online journalism before many newspapers and magazines had even thought about the Internet, is changing editors.
Joan Walsh, the noted commentator who has been editor in chief of Salon since 2005, is stepping down to write a book. Kerry Lauerman, an editor and writer at Salon for the last decade who most recently served as the site’s executive editor, will take over as editor in chief.
“This has been the best job I’ve ever had and it’s hard to leave it, but I’m lucky to be able to hand the reins to Kerry,” Ms. Walsh said in a prepared statement on Monday. Salon’s staff was being briefed on the leadership changes on Monday afternoon.
Ms. Walsh will continue to blog for Salon occasionally as she writes her book, which she has titled “Indivisible” and describes as “an indictment of the fear-based politics that splits Americans and holds the country back.”
Before he joined Salon in 2000, Mr. Lauerman held editing jobs at The New York Times Magazine and Mother Jones. Salon said that in his 10 years there he “has run virtually every editorial department.”
Before The Huffington Post, before Daily Beast and before Gawker Media, there was Salon. It was a forerunner to many of the blogs today that focus on politics, culture, media and gossip. It began publishing in 1995.