Women’s work: My barrier-breaking early years at Mother Jones

Former Mother Jones Editor Recalls 1979–1987 Tenure at Progressive Magazine

Nina Martin joined Mother Jones as an editor in 1979. The magazine had been established three years earlier in San Francisco by Adam Hochschild and other founders with an explicit progressive editorial mission focused on investigative reporting and social issues. Martin’s account of her eight years there, during which she later served as editor-in-chief, describes the physical production process, story selection, and the political environment of the period.

Martin remembers working in the former Rolling Stone loft space after the publication relocated to New York. Staff used mechanical pencils, colored pens, scissors, and glue for editing. Copy moved physically between desks before reaching the fact-checking department and art director Louise Kollenbaum. Kollenbaum later stated that the design aimed to give readers access to the thinking behind the articles through illustrations, photos, pull quotes, sidebars, and cartoons.

The magazine began publication in 1976, after the major events of the 1960s. Martin notes that some founders, including Hochschild, had observed the limits of earlier radical expectations that the political system could be overturned through protest. By the late 1960s, conservative sentiment had contributed to Richard Nixon’s 1968 election. Martin’s time as editor-in-chief began in 1980, coinciding with Ronald Reagan’s victory following Jimmy Carter’s term. Economic conditions during the Carter years included high inflation and unemployment, factors cited by analysts as contributing to the 1980 outcome. Martin describes the 1980s as a period of conservative policy shifts alongside ongoing social changes.

Martin asked former colleagues which stories stood out. Mark Dowie identified the 1979 special issue on the export of products banned in the United States. The reporting, produced with the Center for Investigative Reporting, documented cases including grain coated with a banned fungicide linked to deaths in Iraq and the overseas shipment of Tris-treated pajamas and certain contraceptives. The project received a National Magazine Award. President Carter issued an executive order restricting such exports; Reagan later rescinded the order. Subsequent legislation required notification to recipient countries about U.S. bans.

Hochschild recalled interviewing Andrei Sakharov in Moscow in 1979 for the magazine. Sakharov and his wife Yelena Bonner were later sentenced to internal exile for opposing the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

At the time, Martin was one of the few women editing a national magazine with a political focus. She assigned work by Barbara Ehrenreich, Katha Pollitt, Doris Lessing, Vivian Gornick, and others. Kollenbaum commissioned illustrations and photography from Sue Coe, Roz Chast, and Susan Meiselas. Fiction contributions included pieces by Alice Walker, an excerpt from The Color Purple, Maxine Hong Kingston, Bharati Mukherjee, Grace Paley, and Rudolfo Anaya.

The magazine published essays on various topics. Russell Means wrote on American Indian issues. Writers addressed racial discrimination, Black mayors, Jesse Jackson’s campaigns, Canadian views of the United States, gay liberation during World War II, and the concept of emotional labor in service work. Staff members contributed reporting on topics including attacks on hitchhikers, radioactive waste disposal, and an interview with Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes conducted by Jeffrey Klein. Rick Clogher reported on the Bohemian Grove. David Talbot later founded Salon. Other coverage examined underground culture in China, education in South Africa, and U.S. policy in Central America, including a 1981 package on El Salvador and Martin’s 1985 reporting from Nicaragua.

Martin states that the magazine covered labor issues through contributions from Ron Chernow on unionism, Studs Terkel on logging, and Barbara Garson on data-entry work. She notes that the readership was primarily college-educated and middle-class, consistent with the audience for most long-form print magazines of the era. Martin expresses the view that current digital and audio platforms allow Mother Jones to reach broader audiences.

Martin’s account frames the post-1960s period as one in which progressive policy goals faced sustained opposition after earlier periods of activism. She describes conservative electoral gains under Nixon and Reagan as part of recurring patterns and states her belief that a broader progressive coalition remains possible. The magazine’s founding documents and early statements positioned it as an outlet for left-leaning investigative journalism rather than neutral reporting.

Martin concludes by noting the persistence of the publication’s staff and audience through subsequent decades.