Last year Mother Jones hired veteran investigative journalist Jim Ridgeway from the Village Voice to establish a D.C. beachhead for our new investigative team, the I-Team. Along with journalist Dan Schulman (and Josh Harkinson, based in San Francisco), this team of talented reporters has been producing outstanding investigative stories for Mother Jones magazine and motherjones.com.
From the beginning, though, we strongly believed that we could do more to fill the void that's been left by commercial media cutbacks and news bureau closures. There is plenty of opinion slinging inside the Beltway. But there's a poverty of authentic, fact-based, original reporting. We intend to help change that, by opening up a full-fledged Washington, D.C., news bureau—the first by a U.S. media organization in years.
Some of the biggest names in commercial news have consistently looked to Mother Jones to source interesting stories. Today, with budgets for news gathering slashed, mainstream media rely even more heavily on independent news organizations to be part of their reporting "food chain"—which means that Mother Jones' stories are getting more frequently picked up and carried for all of America to see and hear.
To keep that pipeline filled, I'm very pleased to tell you that we've hired four of the best journalists in the country to round out our bureau reporting staff:
• Laura Rozen on national security and foreign affairs;
• Stephanie Mencimer on domestic policy and the law;
• Jonathan Stein on the 2008 elections, and
• Bruce Falconer on the executive branch and regulatory agencies like the EPA.
Meanwhile, in addition to his ongoing reporting duties, Jim Ridgeway is writing a weekly political column on motherjones.com, and Dan Schulman has been named associate editor of the D.C. bureau. You can expect soon to see a steady flow of stories from the expanded I-Team—in the magazine and especially online at motherjones.com.
Click here to learn more about the I-Team and find links to their previous works.
As a non-profit organization with a 31-year legacy of great reporting, Mother Jones is an essential independent investigative resource. Our track record shows how timely, well-reported stories can shift the debate on the issues of the day and hold those in power to public account. Now with our D.C.-based I-Team and the enormous power of new media at hand, we anticipate even greater impact.
I hope you will consider supporting our D.C. bureau, and all of our smart, fearless journalism, by making a gift to the Mother Jones Investigative Fund.
Thanks,
Jay Harris
President and Publisher
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