Mother Jones (magazine)

==Controversies==
{{Criticism section|date=March 2024}}
Throughout its circulation, ''Mother Jones'' magazine has been the subject of criticism regarding the editorial position of the staff,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/04/the-woke-fence---mother-jones-endorses-a-neolibera.html|title=The Woke Fence - Mother Jones Endorses a Neoliberal Vision of Trump's Border Wall|website=pastemagazine.com|date=24 April 2017|language=en|access-date=2019-08-08}}</ref> exploitation of interns,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Abad-Santos |first1=Alexander |title=Mother Jones Reportedly Told Its Interns to Go on Food Stamps Because It Pays So Little |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/12/mother-jones-told-its-interns-go-food-stamps-because-it-didnt-pay-them-enough/355654/ |website=The Atlantic |access-date=6 August 2019 |date=2 December 2013}}</ref> misinterpreting data about homeless people,<ref name=":1" /> and promotion of values that are perceived to be inconsistent with those of the magazine's namesake, [[Mary Harris Jones|Mother Jones]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Scully|first=Michael Andrew|date=Fall 1978|title=Would Mother Jones Buy "Mother Jones"?|url=https://www.nationalaffairs.com/storage/app/uploads/public/58e/1a5/0c8/58e1a50c8b8a7260434867.pdf|journal=The Public Interest Quarterly|pages=100–108}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.salon.com/2016/09/16/what-would-mother-jones-do-probably-not-bash-idealistic-young-leftists/|title=What would Mother Jones do? Probably not bash idealistic young leftists|date=2016-09-16|website=Salon|language=en|access-date=2019-08-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Mother Jones' Legacy Is Haunting Mother Jones as the Magazine Embraces Neoliberalism |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/12/the-legacy-of-mother-jones-is-haunting-mother-jone.html |website=pastemagazine.com |date=21 December 2016 |access-date=8 August 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

[[Michael Moore]], who had owned and published the [[Flint, Michigan]]-based ''[[Michigan Voice]]'' for ten years, followed English and edited ''Mother Jones'' for several months, until he was fired for disputed reasons. [[Matt Labash]] of ''[[The Weekly Standard]]'' reported this was for refusing to print an article that was critical of the [[Sandinista National Liberation Front|Sandinista]] human rights record in Nicaragua<ref name="Schultz">{{cite book |last=Schultz |first=Emily |url=https://archive.org/details/michaelmoore00emil |title=Michael Moore: a biography |publisher=ECW Press |year=2005 |isbn=1-55022-699-1 |pages=47–54 |url-access=registration}}</ref>—a view supported by ''[[The Nation]]'' columnist [[Alexander Cockburn]], but denied by Hochschild and others at the magazine.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cockburn |first=Alexander |author-link=Alexander Cockburn |date=September 13, 1986 |title=Beat the Devil |journal=[[The Nation]] |location=New York, New York |publisher=The Nation Company L.P. |page=198 |issn=0027-8378}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Hochschild |first=Adam |author-link=Adam Hochschild |author2=Hazen, Don |author3=Cockburn Alexander |display-authors=etal |date=1986-10-04 |title=Letters |journal=[[The Nation]] |location=New York, New York |publisher=The Nation Company L.P. |pages=298, 323–324 |issn=0027-8378}}</ref> Moore believes that he was fired because of his defiant reaction to the publisher's refusal to allow him to cover a story on the GM plant closings in Flint.<ref>Matt Labash. [http://www.weeklystandard.com/michael-moore-one-trick-phony/article/5507 Michael Moore, One-Trick Phony]. ''[[The Weekly Standard]]''. June 8, 1998.</ref> Moore also felt that he did not have a chance to shape the magazine, and that many of the articles that were printed during his time as editor were articles that had already been commissioned by Deirdre English. After being fired in 1986, Moore sued ''Mother Jones'' for $2 million for wrongful termination,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Alex S. |date=1986-09-27 |title=Radical Magazine Removes Editor, Setting Off A Widening Political Debate |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/27/us/radical-magazine-removes-editor-setting-off-a-widening-political-debate.html |access-date=2017-07-13 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> but settled with the magazine's insurance company for $58,000<ref>{{Cite book |last=DiMare |first=Philip C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0qUJ-JuSPdQC&pg=PA750 |title=Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia [3 volumes]: An Encyclopedia |date=2011-06-17 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781598842975 |language=en}}</ref>&mdash;$8000 more than the initial offering.

In December 2013, ''Mother Jones'' was criticized for its labor practices regarding the employment of interns, as part of the Ben Bagdikian Fellowship Program. The program allowed college students to enroll as "fellows" who would receive a monthly stipend of $1,000 while working for the magazine in [[San Francisco]]. Writer Charles Davis of ''[[Vice magazine|Vice]]'' criticized this practice as exploitative noting that "a fellow [working] at ''Mother Jones'' earns less than $6 an hour in a state, California, that just decided to raise the minimum wage to $10." Following the publication of the article, ''Mother Jones'' announced that it would reform its budget to provide fellows with equivalent to California's minimum wage. According to Davis, a former intern alleged that they were advised by the company's human resources department to register for food stamps.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Davis |first1=Charles |title=The Exploited Laborers of the Liberal Media |url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mv5ekb/the-exploited-laborers-of-the-liberal-media |website=Vice.com |publisher=Vice |access-date=6 August 2019 |date=2 December 2013}}</ref>

The magazine was subject of controversy regarding an October 2016 article about white supremacist figure [[Richard B. Spencer]] titled, "Meet the Dapper White Nationalist Riding the Trump Wave", which was interpreted as presenting Spencer in a positive light in contrast to his promotion of violent, racialist views.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://newrepublic.com/minutes/138894/please-dont-make-nazis-new-fashion-darlings-dc|title=Please don't make Nazis the new fashion darlings of D.C.|date=2016-11-21|magazine=The New Republic|language=en-us|access-date=2019-08-08}}</ref> In response to the controversy, ''Mother Jones'' deleted a [[Twitter|tweet]] promoting the article, in addition to removing the word "dapper" from the title of the article.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-alt-right-analysis-20161121-story.html|title=The 'alt-right' splinters as supporters and critics agree it was white supremacy all along|last=Pearce|first=Matt|date=2016-11-29|newspaper=LA Times|access-date=2019-08-08|quote=Readers denounced news outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, for not portraying Spencer and his supporters in a harsher light. The left-wing investigative magazine Mother Jones, which ran a deep profile of Spencer in October, was criticized for titling its piece, "Meet the Dapper White Nationalist Who Wins Even if Trump Loses." The word "dapper" was soon removed from the headline.}}</ref> The 2017 video game ''[[Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus]]'' featured a newspaper article entitled "Meet The Dapper Young KKK Leader With A Message Of Hope". Video game website ''[[Kotaku]]'' said the addition was "clearly a shot at ''Mother Jones'' and any other media outlet who decides to start getting cutesy about [[white supremacy]]".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://kotaku.com/wolfenstein-2-collectible-mocks-progressive-magazine-ov-1819952709|title=Wolfenstein 2 Collectible Mocks Progressive Magazine Over Its Coverage Of White Nationalists|last=Gach|first=Ethan|date=October 30, 2017|work=[[Kotaku]]|access-date=April 15, 2018|archive-url=https://archive.today/20171030031753/https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/10/wolfenstein-2-collectible-mocks-progressive-magazine-over-its-coverage-of-white-nationalists/|archive-date=October 30, 2017|url-status=live|language=en-US|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In 2022, journalist and media critic [[Jesse Singal]] defended the story as a valuable example of investigative journalism and characterized its critics as misinformed, writing that "it's almost impossible to imagine any reasonable reader confusing it for a puff piece." Singal cited the social media response to the article as an example of what he saw as an increasing problem of slander against journalists, concluding that "the Twitter gauntlet consistently destroys good journalism."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/it-isnt-journalisms-job-to-hand-hold|title=It Isn't Journalism's Job To Hand Hold People To The Correct Moral Conclusions|last=Singal|first=Jesse|date=September 30, 2022|work=Singal-Minded|access-date=October 27, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320154307/https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/it-isnt-journalisms-job-to-hand-hold/|archive-date=March 20, 2023|url-status=live|language=en-US|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

In August 2017, journalist and ''Mother Jones'' contributor [[Glenn Greenwald]] criticized an article published by the magazine titled "Are People Disgusted By the Homeless?" by Kevin Drum, which Greenwald asserts uses dehumanizing stereotypes of homeless people.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |last1=Greenwald |first1=Glenn |author-link=Glenn Greenwald |title=Scholars Say Mother Jones Distorted Their Research for Anti-Homeless Article |url=https://theintercept.com/2017/08/01/scholars-say-mother-jones-distorted-their-research-for-anti-homeless-article/ |website=The Intercept |access-date=7 August 2019 |date=1 August 2017}}</ref> Kevin Drum would again be a subject of controversy in July 2019, when Naomi Lachance of [[Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting]] criticized Drum's handling of the [[Wayfair Walkout]] in a blog post titled "I Don't Understand the Wayfair Walkout".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Drum |first1=Kevin |title=Are people disgusted by the homeless? |url=https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/07/are-people-disgusted-by-the-homeless/ |website=Motherjones.com |publisher=Mother Jones |access-date=7 August 2019 |date=2000}}</ref> The Wayfair Walkout was a planned protest action taken by workers and employees of the furniture company to express their opposition to the companies contracting with ICE and other government agencies involved in detainment of suspected undocumented immigrants.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Spellings |first1=Sarah |title=What Happens After the Wayfair Walkout |url=https://www.thecut.com/2019/06/what-happened-at-the-wayfair-employee-walkout.html |website=The Cut |access-date=7 August 2019 |language=en |date=27 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/17/homelessness-kevin-drum-mother-jones-disgust|title=Journalist under fire for calling it 'crazy' not to be disgusted by homeless people|last=Gee|first=Alastair|date=2017-07-18|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-08-08|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> In response to news of the walkout, Drum wrote, "But isn't our whole complaint that these kids are being treated badly? Shouldn't we want companies to sell the government toothpaste and soap and beds and so forth? What am I missing here?"<ref>{{cite web |last1=Drum |first1=Kevin |title=I don't understand the Wayfair walkout |url=https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2019/06/i-dont-understand-the-wayfair-walkout/ |website=Mother Jones |access-date=7 August 2019}}</ref> In response to these comments, Lachance wrote "In a cruel and violent world, full of exponentially increasing climate change, natural disasters, food shortages and wars, people cross borders in search of a place where they have a sliver of a chance to survive. That determination for life should be celebrated, not criminalized. Drum has an attitude toward immigrants that is xenophobic and deeply embarrassing for ''Mother Jones''."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lachance |first1=Naomi |title=Mother Jones Is Failing Its Namesake |url=https://fair.org/home/mother-jones-is-failing-its-namesake/ |website=fair.org |publisher=FAIR |access-date=7 August 2019 |date=23 July 2019}}</ref>

In late 2017, journalist and columnist [[David Corn]] was accused of [[workplace sexual harassment]] by former staffers who alleged the columnist of engaging "...in inappropriate workplace behavior, including unwanted touching and rape jokes".<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/a/sexual-harassment-assault-allegations-list/david-corn|title=David Corn, Mother Jones DC Bureau Chief, sexual misconduct allegations|last=North|first=Anna|date=2017-12-22|website=Vox.com|access-date=2019-08-08}}</ref> These allegations were published in numerous newspapers and magazines, including ''[[The Daily Beast]]''<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/men-need-to-change-and-women-need-to-change-with-them|title=Men Need to Change, and Women Need to Change With Them|last=Crocker|first=Lizzie|date=2017-11-04|access-date=2019-08-08|language=en}}</ref> and ''[[Politico]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://politi.co/2gWntkx|title=David Corn investigated for inappropriate workplace behavior|last=Calderone|first=Michael|website=POLITICO|language=en|access-date=2019-08-08}}</ref> ''Mother Jones'' conducted an internal investigation of the accusations, concluding that there was no evidence of misconduct.<ref name=":2" />