Mother Jones To Merge With The Center For Investigative Reporting

Ted Johnson
·2 min read

Mother Jones and The Center for Investigative Reporting announced plans on Thursday to merge as one nonprofit news outlet, to take effect early next year.

Both organizations were founded around the same time — Mother Jones in 1976 and CIR a year later — and they have, through the years, produced joint reporting projects. Both are based in San Francisco, and Mother Jones has offices in New York and Washington, D.C.

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The two organizations will combine their newsrooms, and production will continue on the Mother Jones magazine and website and the Reveal radio show and podcast. The organization also will continue to create video and documentary film productions.

Monika Bauerlein will serve as CEO of the organization, and Robert J. Rosenthal, who has been CEO of CIR, will serve as CEO emeritus. Clara Jeffery editor in chief of Mother Jones, will lead the combined newsroom, and Al Letson will continue as host of Reveal. CIR Studios will continue to produce documentary films and news reports. The two organizations said that they had secured $21 million in funding commitments over the next three years to implement the merger.

A spokesperson for Mother Jones said that the combined organization will have 118 employees, after four layoffs.

Bauerlin said in a statement, “Journalism is in crisis just when democracy needs it most. By combining these two organizations’ deep track records, we can deliver the hard-hitting journalism that Americans so urgently need.” Bauerlin said that the combination will reach an audience of 10 million monthly.

Rosenthal said that the combination “will increase our ability to deliver stories that would otherwise not be told. We will also enhance our ability to work with other newsrooms large and small and support a robust and sustainable business model.”

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