Salon.com (Nasdaq: SALN) today won the Online Journalism Awards' top prize for "General Excellence in Online Journalism Original to the Web." The awards are sponsored by the Online News Association and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.
In addition, Salon.com also won in the category of "Enterprise Journalism: Original to the Web," making it the only site to win two prizes. Salon reporter Dan Forbes won for his investigative piece "Prime-time propaganda" ( http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2000/01/13/drugs/) -- which revealed that TV networks, in exchange for financial incentives, had cut deals with the White House Drug Office to insert anti-drug messages into popular programs like "E.R." and "The Drew Carey Show."
"This is the first time that distinguished journalists have honored the important work being done by their colleagues in the online field," said Salon founder and editor-in-chief David Talbot. "During the five years of Salon's existence, it's always been our goal to maintain the highest journalistic standards while trying to stay one step ahead of the challenges and opportunities presented by this dynamic new medium. We're truly gratified that the judges saw fit to honor our efforts."
The contest, which honors excellence in Internet journalism, drew more than 600 entries from over 200 English-language media outlets around the world and was judged by a team of distinguished journalists. The Online Journalism Awards join several other prestigious media awards administered by Columbia, including the Pulitzer Prizes and the National Magazine Awards.
"By lowering the barriers to entry, the Web encourages new publications to be born, grow, and thrive, bringing new voices and opinions to public discourse on important issues. No one has succeeded more in this than Salon.com," said the OJA judges. "It covers a broad range of issues -- from politics and business to media and culture -- with authoritative stories and commentaries. It has broken numerous stories. It updates frequently. It encourages discussion. It is a new magazine for a new medium."
The judges called Dan Forbes' investigative piece "...an exclusive story that had significant impact on network television, advertising and the role of government. It reflected deep reporting of an unexplored topic -- the kind of investigative work that Web journalists should aspire to."
For more information on the awards go to http://www.onlinejournalismawards.org/winners1/pr-2000winners.html
About Salon: Founded in 1995, Salon.com is a leading Internet media company that produces 10 award-winning, original content sites; maintains Salon Shop, an e-commerce gateway; and hosts two communities -- Table Talk and The WELL. In May 2000, Salon acquired MP3Lit.com, the pioneering Web site offering quality spoken word and audio literature recordings. In October, 2000, Salon.com launched Salon Audio, a site offering 24-hour music programming, daily downloads and streaming audio from Salon's favorite columnists, as well as hundreds of downloadable versions of short stories, poems and interviews in MP3 and Real Audio formats. Over 530 companies have advertised on Salon.com including IBM, Lexus, Microsoft, EDS, Hewlett-Packard, Mastercard, AskJeeves, Virgin Megastore Online, Kimberly Clark, and Intel. In December 1999, Salon.com announced a content and equity agreement with Rainbow Media Holdings, Inc., a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation and NBC. Strategic distribution partners include America Online (AOL), TheStreet.com, CNN.com and CNet as well as wireless innovator AvantGo. The site had 2.6 million unique visitors in September 2000 as audited by ABC Interactive, a subsidiary of the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
SOURCE Salon.com
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