-
Magazine named for socialist labor organizer Mary Harris “Mother” Jones
-
Does investigative reporting that mostly targets corporations, capitalists, private property, and Republican officeholders
-
Features the work of writers on the left such as Todd Gitlin, Molly Ivins, Bill McKibben, Richard Rodriguez, Orville Schell, and others
-
Edited briefly by Michael Moore, who may have been fired for being too leftwing for even this socialist-inspired magazine
Mother Jones is a bimonthly magazine and web site (motherjones.com) named for socialist “union organizer” Mary Harris “Mother” Jones (1830-1930). It prides itself on continuing her pursuit of socialist “social justice” by doing investigative reporting that mostly targets corporations, capitalists, private property and Republican political officeholders.
Well-known Leftist editors and writers on this magazine’s masthead include Todd Gitlin, Molly Ivins, Bill McKibben, Richard Rodriguez, William Saletan, Orville Schell, Eric Schlosser and Amy Wilentz.
Mother Jones began taking shape in 1974 when the Watergate scandal was showing how investigative reporting could weaken and oust a Republican President elected by an overwhelming majority. It’s genesis was a failed attempt to save the reigning radical magazine of the day Ramparts. Ramparts editor David Horowitz had put together a team consisting of labor journalist Paul Jacobs, leftist entrepreneur Richard Parker and leftist millionaire Adam Hochschild to take over Ramparts from its retiring editors, Horowitz and Peter Collier who were leaving to write a biography of the Rockefeller family. When the trio had a falling out with Ramparts staffers, they elected to leave and create their own magazine, which became Mother Jones.
The magazine was launched in February 1976. In its first four years it won three National Magazine Awards for anti-business investigations into topics such as the Ford Pinto automobile’s gas tank that purportedly was prone to explode during accidents.
Mother Jones’ incessant theme has always been: capitalism is evil, government control of business is good. Or globally: America & Israel are evil, Marxist regimes like Fidel Castro’s Cuba are good. As Jean Pearce documented at FrontPageMagazine.com, Mother Jones routinely applies double standards and questionable or one-sided data to skew its articles to predictably-socialist conclusions. It sees the world through only the left eye.
In 1986 Mother Jones hired a young Michigan underground newspaper founder named Michael Moore as its editor. He moved to California but five months later was fired after he rejected an article by socialist Paul Berman, that Moore claimed was “unfairly critical” of the Sandinista dictatorship in Nicaragua. Moore sued, claiming wrongful dismissal. Others involved with the magazine described the 32-year-old Moore as an egomaniacal bully. Moore pocketed $58,000 in an out-of-court settlement of his lawsuit, then used the money to produce his first film documentary, “Roger and Me.”
The magazine and web site are owned by the non-profit, tax-exempt Foundation for National Progress (FNP), a 501(c)(3) “public-interest media organization.” It has been supported by other Left-leaning foundations – in one recent three-year period, e.g., receiving grants from the Bill Moyers’-run Schumann Center for Media and Democracy, Inc. alone that added up to $750,000.
Those running Mother Jones “do well by purportedly doing good.” Mother Jones’ Editor-in-Chief and FNP’s Board Chairs have each pocketed annual salaries in excess of $144,000. This non-profit, tax-exempt consortium can afford to pay well. In 2000, e.g., the magazine, web site and foundation took in from grants, donations, subscriptions, newsstand sales, rental of its mailing lists and advertising of nearly $6 million. |
