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Mother Jones magazine - Key editors

Mother Jones magazine - Key editors: Encyclopedia II - Mother Jones magazine - Key editors

For the first five years of its history, Mother Jones operated with an editorial board, and members of the board took turns serving as managing editor for one-year terms. People who served on the editorial team during those years included Adam Hochschild, Paul Jacobs, Deborah Johnson, Jeffrey Klein, Mark Dowie, Amanda Spake, Zina Klapper, and Deirdre English. In 1981 Deirdre English was named the magazine’s first editor-in-chief, a position she held until 1986. A strong feminist, she brought women’s voices to the fore in th ...

Mother Jones magazine: Encyclopedia II - Mother Jones magazine - Key editors

Mother Jones magazine - Key editors

For the first five years of its history, Mother Jones operated with an editorial board, and members of the board took turns serving as managing editor for one-year terms. People who served on the editorial team during those years included Adam Hochschild, Paul Jacobs, Deborah Johnson, Jeffrey Klein, Mark Dowie, Amanda Spake, Zina Klapper, and Deirdre English.

In 1981 Deirdre English was named the magazine’s first editor-in-chief, a position she held until 1986. A strong feminist, she brought women’s voices to the fore in the magazine and oversaw considerable coverage of Central America, the Sandinistas, and the Contras. She also brought in Barbara Ehrenreich as a regular columnist.

Michael Moore followed English and edited Mother Jones for several months. After being fired in the fall of 1986, Moore sued Mother Jones for wrongful termination, settled with the magazine’s insurance company for $58,000, and used part of the settlement as the seed money for his first documentary film, "Roger and Me."

Douglas Foster, an Emmy-winning TV producer and a writer who had covered labor issues for Mother Jones in the 1970s, followed Moore. Foster’s magazine featured regular columns from Molly Ivins, Roger Wilkins, and Ralph Nader. During his tenure, the magazine excerpted Randy Schultz’s groundbreaking book, "And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic."

In the fall of 1992, Jeffrey Klein, one of the original editorial team, returned as editor-in-chief, bringing an intense focus on Washington politics, including extensive coverage of Newt Gingrich, campaign finance, and the tobacco industry. He was a frequent guest on radio and television shows, spearheaded many collaborations between the magazine and website, and brought comedian Paula Poundstone on as a regular columnist.

Roger Cohn succeeded Klein as editor-in-chief in 1999. Cohn brought to the fore environmental and social justice stories from around the country. It was during his tenure that the 25-year-old Mother Jones won a 2001 National Magazine Award for General Excellence.

Russ Rymer succeeded Cohn as editor-in-chief in 2005, promising a magazine "that makes clear why progressive ideas are right for the nation’s future.”