Nonprofit News Media Step Up Investment as Commercial News Scales Back

About: Newly Expanded Mother Jones Welcomes Pro Publica Launch

For Release:
October 15, 2007
Contact:

415/321-1740

Mother Jones, the nonprofit news organization, welcomes the news that Pro Publica, a reporting organization headed by Wall Street Journal veteran Paul Steiger and funded by Herbert and Marion Sandler, will begin operations next year. San Francisco-based Mother Jones recently opened its own seven-person investigative bureau in Washington, D.C.

Mother Jones publisher Jay Harris lauded the Sandlers, the former chief executives of Golden West Financial Corporation, for their commitment of $10 million a year to fund Pro Publica, which will hire a staff of top investigative reporters to develop and distribute stories at no charge to a range of publications. Harris noted that reporters for Mother Jones' new D.C. bureau—the first major news bureau to open in D.C. in years-will write both for Mother Jones magazine (circulation 230,000) and motherjones.com, the organization's Webby-winning internet site. Both Mother Jones and Pro Publica plan to investigate issues that require intensive commitments of skilled reporters' time.

"Investigative reporting in the commercial news media has taken a huge hit in recent years," says Mother Jones publisher Jay Harris. "Every week there are headlines about news staffs being cut by companies under intense profit pressure. These days the health of our democratic discussion depends on citizen-funded journalism. We're delighted to have Pro Publica join Mother Jones and others in this important work."