Salon also increased emphasis on breaking news, notably after the death of Princess Diana. Salon posted eleven pieces on the subject between August 31 and September 8, producing further readership gains. Talbot accepted the resignation. These kinds of high-octane stories brought Salon a giant leap in readership, from 620,000 to more than one million visitors a month. Three months later, Salon had retained half of those new viewers, and its readership was estimated to be about 850,000 visitors a month.
Slate also includes several sections that comment upon the news itself.
In the issue just before the November elections, almost half of Slate 's pages were devoted to commentary in some form. Some have faulted Slate for this emphasis. Unfortunately, many of these reveal nothing more than the mundane details of daily life, legitimized by the reputation of the writer. At 9 a.m. I'm at the Skirball Cultural Center for a full board of trustees meeting . I want them to feel that they've heard all this before, though they can't remember where, because every word they read is stalked by a pre-existing shadow seemingly originating from their own experience, not mine.