Salon.com cordons off news, politics

Salon.com on Monday put a price on its news and political coverage as the Internet publisher seeks to steady revenues as the online advertising market shrinks. David Talbot, Salon's editor in chief and chairman, urged readers in a letter Monday to sign up for Salon Premium, its monthly and yearly subscription service, to continue reading breaking news and in-depth articles about "the Bush administration and current global crisis."

The move follows Salon's efforts to boost ad revenues by making Web advertising more attractive to marketers. Last week, the publisher started requiring readers to look at a sponsor's ad for several seconds before they can see the story they came for. Readers can avoid such ads by signing up for Salon Premium.