SpeakOut.com, the leading non-partisan Internet activism portal, and Salon.com (NASDAQ: SALN; www.salon.com), one of the leading Internet media convergence companies, today announced a comprehensive sponsorship, syndication and service partnership.
Under the agreement, SpeakOut.com's online activism tools will be given prominent placement throughout Salon.com's News and Politics2000 sites, as well as the online community area Table Talk. The SpeakOut button, customized exclusively for Salon.com, will give users direct access to SpeakOut.com's messaging services, opinion surveys, databases and issue briefs on more than 120 public-interest issues. Access to SpeakOut.com's tools will enable Salon.com users to take action on the public-affairs issues they read about on the site.
In addition, content from Salon.com's 11 award-winning sites will be syndicated throughout SpeakOut.com's news area, complementing the original reporting by SpeakOut.com's editorial staff.
"We've already seen that the Internet is playing a key role in this year's election," said Michael O'Donnell, CEO and president of Salon.com. "With SpeakOut's comprehensive and easy-to-use services and features, Salon.com will become the one-stop-shop for news, information and services on politics and public affairs."
SpeakOut.com and Salon.com will also collaborate on the production, distribution and analysis of interactive polls. The surveys, which will be created and analyzed by Speakout.coms opinion research team, will appear exclusively on Salon.com and cover a wide range of issues and candidates from environment, education and budget policy to presidential, congressional and state elections.
"SpeakOut.com has proven to be an indispensable resource for citizens who want to research the issues and make their voice heard, from Capitol Hill to city hall," said Ron Howard, chairman and CEO of SpeakOut.com. "Working with Salon.com, a pioneer in delivering first-rate, in-depth reporting in the Internet age, will enable us to expand our reach considerably and involve the citizenry in new and profound ways."
The deal announced today represents a growing level of cooperation and partnership between SpeakOut.com and Salon.com. In February, SpeakOut.com co-sponsored Salon.com's Politcs2000 launch forum in Washington. Attended by more than 400 of the Beltway's leading pundits and policy makers and broadcast live on the cable network C-Span, the event featured a lively discussion among Salon.com columnists Arianna Huffington, Joe Conason, David Horowitz and Stanley Crouch. Today, SpeakOut sponsors an area on Salon.com where users can view the event using streaming video technology. The site is located at: http://www.salon.com/politics2000/feature/2000/03/21/speakoutvideo/index.html.
ABOUT SPEAKOUT.COM
Based in Washington, D.C., SpeakOut.com (www.SpeakOut.com) is a new, non-partisan Internet activism portal whose primary mission is to enhance the democratic process by enabling citizens to make a direct impact on the decisions that affect their lives. Officially launched in February 2000 with over $8 million in first-round funding from Constellation Ventures, SpeakOut.com lets users enjoy a wide variety of news and information content tailored to their interests, along with activism tools that let citizens get involved, including allowing aggregated messaging to a vast array of public officeholders, candidates, business leaders and news executives.
SpeakOut.com's board of advisors includes Michael K. Deaver, former deputy chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan; Tom Downey and Susan Molinari, former members of Congress; Jack Quinn, former White House counsel; Rich Bond, former chairman of the Republican National Committee; William Diefenderfer, a senior Republican official during the Ford and Bush administrations; Democratic strategist Carter Eskew; and Republican strategist Ed Gillespie.
ABOUT SALON.COM
Salon.com (Nasdaq:SALN; www.salon.com; AOL Keyword: Salon) is an Internet media company that produces a network of 11 award-winning, original content sites and hosts two communities - Table Talk and The WELL. Salon.com currently has relationships with more than 325 advertisers including industry leaders such as IBM, Lexus, Microsoft, EDS, Virgin Megastore Online 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), Lycos, Go.com, AltaVista, Reuters, CNN.com and CNet as well as wireless innovators AvantGo and Rocket eBooks. Salon.com content is also syndicated to print publications through United Features Syndicate. The site had 3.4 million unique visitors in December 1999.
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