Department of futile gestures: Yesterday when I noticed that Salon had hired Andrew Sullivan as a columnist, I wrote a letter to the editors saying, in brief, that I could not understand why a progressive news outfit like Salon would support the work of right-wing provacteurs like Sullivan & David Horowitz. I actually pay money to read Salon & I asked for my "premium" subscription back. Within an hour, Joan Walsh, Salon's News Editor replied as follows: "If you can read through the list of Salon stories today, from the amazing global warming cover to Spinsanity's incredible debunking of the right-wing smear of the NEA--not to mention the incredible fall fiction package, and throw in Joe Conason twice a day as well--and feel we're not standing up for liberal values and you're not getting your money's worth, well...I don't even know how to end this e-mail. I'm speechless. We rock the mainstream media every single day on a tiny budget, and yes, we occasionally throw an apostate into the mix. I just, well, I give up." I grant Ms. Walsh all her points about the virtues of Salon's writers, and in fact, this morning's piece on Iraq convinced me to write & recind my subscription cancellation. (Both letters I wrote were marked "for publication"--both my cancellation & the retraction. I'm letting it al hang out her, folks.) But I'm still pissed. And I don't think that Salon "occasionally throw[ing] an apostate into the mix" is justifiable in the current cultural & political atmosphere. Before I'd caved, I wote back: "Dear Joan Walsh, Yes, the cover story is fine & I'm a big fan of Joe Conason, but I just can't see myself contributing even an infinitesimal amount to support Sullivan & Horowitz. Frankly, I can't see why Salon would want to either. There are parts of Salon I'll miss, but there is always Eric Alterman, The Rittenhouse Review, The American Prospect & other progressive news sources available--something Salon might want to consider as it--apparently--seeks 'balance'." [I should also have mentioned Josh Marshall's Talking Points & Bob Somerby's The Daily Howler.]

It is not that I am not "getting my money's worth." That's not the issue. The issue is my money, given to Salon because I support their progressive politics, supporting the likes of Sullivan & Horowitz. My thirty bucks a year to Salon is not like a tax I object to, it's voluntary. So this is not like some cracker telling me he doesn't want his tax dollars going to support the National Endowment for the Arts. The cracker can elect representatives to do his bidding, but all I can do with Salon is withold my cash. The beauty of capitalism. Well, as I said, I caved. But I'm still pissed & I still want to make some kind of statement the editors of Salon might recognize. I wrote Ms. Walsh tonight: "as you may have seen I sent a letter retracting my Premium cancellation this morning. Salon remains too valuable to me to give up, despite my continuing sense that you do your readers a disservice by publishing the right-wing screeds of Sullivan & Horowitz. It's not like I can't find their stuff if I need to know what they've said. So, here's what I'm going to do: On days when a Sullivan or Horowitz column appears in Salon I will click away & not come back until the next day. And I'm going to promote the "click away today" idea on my weblog, which is pretty well-linked to other progressive sites. It's not that I want people to put their fingers in their ears & sing la-la-la-la as loud as they can; no, it's just that it is already so difficult to hear progressive opinion in America that I cannot believe Salon would, in effect, turn up the volume on the right." I invite everyone who reads this to join me. Maybe Salon will notice their hits counter's silence on days when they publish the nasty mendacities of Horowitz & Sullivan. Pass it on.

Send Joan Walsh a note telling here that you are going to "click away today" when Sullivan & Horowitz appear in Salon. Make it nice. Joan seems like a nice person; in fact, as I was writing this, the following email arrived: "I didn't see your letter retracting your cancellation (not on that list). You made my day. I'll keep arguing with you, though: We haven't *turned up the volume* on the right. We added Joe Conason five days a week, Keith Olbermann twice. We turned up the volume on the left, and added Andrew for a little balance." My problem is I just don't buy the idea that Salon has any responsibility for "balance" in the current state of the media universe. While the left strives for "balance," the right attacks the Bill of Rights; while the left strives for balance, the Washington Times smears America's teachers & the rest of the supposedly responsible media lap it up as if the shit was chocolate; while the left strives for balance, the right endorses Ann Coulter's attack on American values as cute. Give me a break, Salon. Give me a freakin' break.

[Eric Alterman on this issue. MWO on Alterman's reaction to Salon's move (scroll down to "Salon's New War.")]