This July 4, take a moment to remember what Independence Day means, and then support independent media by subscribing to Salon Premium if you haven't yet. Or give a Fourth of July gift subscription to a friend. We can't think of a better way to demonstrate a genuine love of freedom in these troubling times of media consolidation, the Foxification of cable television news, and an apparently endless "war on terror" that brings new threats to civil liberties almost every day. You can even give a "Make a Difference" gift of Salon Premium that enables lower-income readers at community centers to access Salon.
Salon kicked off its own Independence Day celebration today by launching the Documents of Freedom series, a nine-week tribute to the historic essays, speeches and court rulings that have advanced the cause of free speech and other civil liberties for centuries. The series features Salon writers hailing works such as Justice Hugo Black's decision in the Pentagon Papers, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," and the Beijing Democracy Wall poster demanding individual rights and liberties from China's communist rulers. We can safely -- and proudly -- say you won't find a feature like this anywhere else.
But this great writing reminds us that freedom isn't free -- and that producing a thoughtful, provocative, feisty publication like Salon isn't either. For more than two years we've relied on our readers to support our work and contradict the naysayers by stepping up to subscribe. With your help, we'll prove the naysayers wrong again.
At $30 a year without banners, pop-ups and Day Pass ads, or just $18.50 for Salon Premium with advertising, a subscription to Salon is a bargain. It gets you direct access to all of our award-winning content, and other great benefits. For those subscribers at the $30 level, we just added the ability to read full-text Salon articles on their cellphones or PDAs. We also added a one-year subscription to Wired magazine, which you'd pay $12 to subscribe to separately. They join other great benefits like free bestselling audiobook downloads, magazine subscriptions to Utne and Mother Jones, and more. You can check out the full list of benefits by clicking here.
But next month, we'll announce our first-ever price increase to Salon Premium. We know many of you have been on the fence, using an advertising Day Pass to regularly read our great content and promising yourself that soon, you'll subscribe. Do it now, and you can lock in at our existing subscription prices for life. You'll be grandfathered in so that when it comes time to renew your subscription, you'll be able to do so at today's lower prices. If you're already a Premium subscriber, you'll also be grandfathered in at our current rates. Come Aug. 1, an annual subscription to Salon Premium will cost $35 without ads and $22.50 with them -- still a bargain, given everything a subscription to Salon gets you. But why not give yourself a Fourth of July gift and act now, by locking in at just $30 or $18.50?
Given the current political climate, you can't take all of your intellectual freedoms for granted. But by subscribing to Salon, you can guarantee yourself at least one of them: supporting and enjoying access to fearless, independent journalism.
Joan Walsh, V.P. of News, Salon.com
P.S. If you're currently a Salon Premium subscriber at the $6 monthly or $18.50 annual level and you'd like to take advantage of the new benefits and lock in today's rates, we'll gladly apply the money you've spent to date toward a $30 plan. Monthly subscribers can renew at a pro-rated price by clicking here, and $18.50 subscribers can upgrade to the $30 rate by clicking here.
Shares