Mother Jones – Bias and Credibility

Detailed Report

Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER
Factual Reporting: HIGH
Country: USA
Press Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Magazine
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY

History

Launched in 1976 and based in San Francisco, California, Mother Jones or MoJo is a news organization named after labor activist Mary Harris “Mother” Jones. Mother Jones focuses on investigative journalism on politics, governments, corporations, the environment, crime & justice. They distribute their content via digital and social platforms, videos, podcasts, email newsletters, and print magazines. They describe their mission as “to deliver hard-hitting reporting that inspires change and combats “alternative facts.” In 1993, it became the first general-interest magazine to go online.

Currently, Steve Katz is the publisher. The Foundation for National Progress publishes Mother Jones. 

For the complete list of staff, click here.  

Read our profile on the United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

Mother Jones’ Non-Profit Parent company and publisher is the Foundation for National Progress (FNP), and according to the MacArthur Foundation, the Foundation for National Progress received $1.5 million in grants in support of its in-depth investigative journalism work. The Board of Directors can be seen here, and the complete donor list here.

Mother Jones’ primary revenue source is reader donations, subscriptions, advertising, and foundation grants; for example, the Craigslist founder gave $1 million to Mother Jones in 2018.  You can find details of their finances and IRS Form 990s Here.

Analysis / Bias

Although Mother Jones’s political inclinations have been described as progressive, they did not endorse any political party during the 2016 presidential election. They have published articles with an anti-Bernie Sanders tone, such as this article, “Poor Bernie Sanders has fallen victim to the hack gap.” Other left-leaning publications have criticized this stance as “Mother Jones’ Legacy Is Haunting Mother Jones as the Magazine Embraces Neoliberalism.” However, Hillary Clinton has also been critical with this article: Let’s Cut the Crap About Why Hillary Clinton Lost.

Mother Jones frequently publishes detailed investigative journalism such as “The full data set from our in-depth investigation into mass shootings.” This investigation has been criticized by some on the right, such as Reason.com.

In review, some articles we analyzed offer support for Republicans, such as “This Deep-Red State Decided to Make a Serious Investment in Preschools. It’s Paying Off Big-Time”, by praising Lawmakers such as Jeana Ross, Republican Secretary for the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education, and Alabama state Senator Trip Pittman for their accomplishments in the state preschool program. On the other hand, they also have other articles we reviewed that have emotionally loaded headlines that are negative toward Republicans, such as “Patriots Games, Birthday Bashes, and Vicious Tweets: Trump and Romney’s Failed Bromance.”

In general, story selection moderately favors the left, although the progressive left tends to be criticized more often than the establishment left. When it comes to sourcing, Mother Jones sources credible media outlets such as Reuters, NY Times, The Hill, CNN, Time Magazine, NPR, Politico, Washington Examiner, and C-Span.

Failed Fact Checks

• None in the Last 5 years

Overall, we rate Mother Jones as strongly Left-Center biased based on story selection that moderately favors the left and High for factual reporting due to thorough sourcing and a clean fact check record.  (5/13/2016) Updated (M. Huitsing 12/09/2022)

Source: https://www.motherjones.com/