Starting today Salon will begin publishing virtually all of its News and Politics articles in our Premium edition. This means that if you don't already subscribe to Salon Premium, you will need to do so in order to keep reading Salon's coverage of the Bush administration and the current global crisis.

Some readers have implored Salon to reconsider this decision, pointing to the urgency of the times and the importance of Salon's coverage of world events. But this is precisely why we need our readers' support now. In recent days, Salon has committed substantial resources to covering the war between America and Islamic terrorism. We have dispatched an experienced correspondent, Asra Nomani, to cover the looming conflicts in Pakistan and Afghanistan. And we have assembled a network of other skillful reporters in the Middle East and Europe to complement our enterprising staff's coverage in the U.S. All of this, of course, costs money.

I believe that no other Web publication is matching the range of news and opinion that Salon is offering its readers. While media outlets like CNN, Fox and MSNBC dish out the predictable mix of flag-waving kitsch, White House spin and wire copy, Salon breaks the hard-hitting stories and runs the complete range of commentary -- from left to right to none-of-the-above -- that the American public desperately needs as we educate ourselves about the coming conflict.

Salon doesn't package its news coverage with treacly patriotic theme songs. We don't believe that's the function of a vigorous press in a vibrant democracy. We dig for the truth and we give it to our readers straight. I'm convinced that this is the greatest service journalists can provide our country in these perilous times.

If Salon's unvarnished journalism and fearless commentary from multiple perspectives are important to you, I urge you to sign up today for Salon Premium so you will not miss one article. As I've written before, we cannot operate on advertising revenue alone, which, during the current ad slump, pays for less than half of our budget. The rest must come from you, our readers. Only readers can keep the independent press alive.

David Talbot
Salon editor

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