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Mother Jones magazine - History

Mother Jones magazine - History: Encyclopedia II - Mother Jones magazine - History

From its first issue in February 1976, Mother Jones has focused on investigative stories that are underreported by the mainstream media. The magazine devoted extensive coverage to the underpinnings of the Iraq war - from the small group that laid the groundwork for an invasion during the 1970s oil crisis to the Office of Special Plans, the group the George W. Bush administration set up within the Pentagon to make the case for invading Iraq through carefully selecting and manipulating intelligence reports. Another cover story detailed how the war in Iraq has fueled anti-American sentiments around the ...

Mother Jones magazine: Encyclopedia II - Mother Jones magazine - History

Mother Jones magazine - History

From its first issue in February 1976, Mother Jones has focused on investigative stories that are underreported by the mainstream media.

The magazine devoted extensive coverage to the underpinnings of the Iraq war - from the small group that laid the groundwork for an invasion during the 1970s oil crisis to the Office of Special Plans, the group the George W. Bush administration set up within the Pentagon to make the case for invading Iraq through carefully selecting and manipulating intelligence reports. Another cover story detailed how the war in Iraq has fueled anti-American sentiments around the world and turned Al-Qaeda into a global movement.

The magazine’s May/June 2005 issue revealed that ExxonMobil donated more than $8 million to organizations that debunk global warming between 2000 and 2003. The September/October 2003 issue documented the Bush administration’s war against the environment. Mother Jones has also turned its investigative eye on the tobacco industry, the pharmaceutical industry, a deeply flawed campaign-finance system, Washington politics, and scores of other issues.

Mother Jones magazine was conceived in early 1974 when Adam Hochschild, Richard Parker and Paul Jacobs first met in Jacobs’ San Francisco living room to begin planning a new magazine. The founders thought the country was ready for a magazine of reporting that would focus some of its investigative energy on the great unelected powers of the time—multinational corporations.

In September 1977, the young magazine made a splash with the publication of Mark Dowie’s now-classic investigative story, “Pinto Madness.” The article revealed that the Ford Motor Company had, though its own testing, uncovered a serious safety problem with the gas tank design of its popular Ford Pinto subcompact car. Mother Jones obtained and published an internal cost-benefit-analysis in which Ford weighed the costs of a recall against the anticipated cost of settlements in cases where passengers would be killed or injured. Eight months after the story appeared, Ford recalled 1.5 million Pintos for repairs – at the time, the largest auto recall in American history. “Pinto Madness” won many awards, including a National Magazine Award.

The nonprofit Foundation for National Progress publishes Mother Jones magazine and MotherJones.com, produces Mother Jones Radio and directs the Mother Jones Internship Program. Mother Jones' stated mission is to produce revelatory journalism that in its power and reach informs and inspires a more just and democratic world.