Since its beginning in 1980, the Ben Bagdikian Fellowship Program has featured more than 700 up-and-coming journalists, with more than half continuing their careers in media and journalism. Graduates of the program have gone on to become award-winning journalists, lead magazines and other news organizations, found new and innovative endeavors, and shape the nation’s journalistic and policy dialogue. Of Mother Jones’ current staff, 16 got their start as fellows, including our senior managing editor, research editor, photo director, vice president of media sales, and associate editor, as well as nine staff reporters.
Here’s just a sample of the program’s esteemed alumni (year denotes when each started the program):
- Peter Waldman (1982), editor, projects and investigations, Bloomberg News
- Chris Lehmann (1985), DC bureau chief at the Nation, contributing editor at the Baffler and the New Republic
- Kerry Lauerman (1992), executive editor, news, at Forbes, former editor-in-chief at Salon
- MichElle Cottle (1993), editorial writer, the New York Times
- Eric Umansky (1995), editor-at-large at ProPublica
- Mark Murray (1996), senior political editor at NBC News
- Julian Brookes (1998), senior media strategist at the Brennan Center for Justice, former editor at Mother Jones and Rolling Stone
- Mat Honan (1998), editor-in-chief, MIT Technology Review
- Lakshmi Chaudhry (1999), former executive editor at Firstpost.com, India’s first web-only news site; former editor at In These Times and the Nation
- Michael Scherer (2000), national political reporter at the Washington Post
- Janelle Nanos (2004), business reporter at the Boston Globe, formerly at Boston magazine, New York magazine, and National Geographic Traveler
- Brad Plumer (2004), climate reporter at the New York Times, former reporter at the Washington Post, and former assistant editor at the New Republic
- Meghann Farnsworth (2004), communications manager, news, at Google, former director of social media at Wired
- Ann Friedman (2005), contributing editor at The Gentlewoman, contributor to the Los Angeles Times, The Cut, Elle, and the Guardian
- Jon Mooallem (2005), contributing writer at New York Times Magazine, author, and frequent contributor to Pop-Up Magazine
- Michael Beckel (2005), research director at Issue One, former politics reporter at the Center for Public Integrity
- Jonathan Mehta Stein (2005), executive director, California Common Cause
- Gabriel Mac (2007), National Magazine Award nominee for two articles for Mother Jones, where he was a senior reporter, author of For Us Surrender Is Out of the Question and Irritable Hearts: A PTSD Love Story.
- Casey Miner (2007), narrative audio editor, former news producer/editor at KALW
- Nick Baumann (2007), former deputy DC bureau chief, the Los Angeles Times
- Marian Wang (2009), senior news producer at Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, former reporter at ProPublica
- Sam Baldwin (2009), senior director of product at Condé Nast
- Taylor Wiles (2010), former web editor at High Country News
- Eric Sullivan (2010), former senior editor, Esquire
- Hamed Aleaziz (2011), immigration reporter, the New York Times, former immigration policy reporter, Los Angeles Times
- Maya Dusenbery (2011), author, former executive director, editorial, at Feministing
- Azeen Ghorayshi (2011), reporter, the New York Times
- Asawin Suebsaeng (2011), senior politics reporter, Rolling Stone
- Sarah Zhang (2012), staff writer, the Atlantic
- Thomas Stackpole (2013), senior editor, Harvard Business Review
- Sydney Brownstone (2013), investigative reporter, the Seattle Times
- Sam Brodey (2014), deputy politics editor, Daily Beast
- Jenna McLaughlin (2014), cybersecurity correspondent, NPR.
- Becca Andrews (2015), former reporter, Reckon
- Oliver-Ash Kleine (2016), senior producer, TransLash Media
- Karen Hao (2016), contributing writer, the Atlantic
- Alex Sammon (2016), politics writer, Slate
- Maha Ahmed (2017), senior editor, New York Focus
- Rosa Furneaux (2018), global health investigative reporter, Reuters
- Nuria Marquez Martinez (2019), former associate producer, Axios
- Camille Squires (2019), story editor, Bolts
- Lil Kalish (2020), reporter, HuffPost
Current Mother Jones staff who went through our fellowship program are Khary Brown, Arianna Coghill, Isabela Dias, Noah Lanard, Hannah Levintova, Nina Liss-Schultz, Julia Lurie, Samantha Michaels, Jackie Mogensen, Ruth Murai, Sophie Murguia, Tim Murphy, Mark Murrmann, Maddie Oatman, Madison Pauly, and Jacob Rosenberg.
Are you a former MoJo intern or fellow? Stay on our radar by sending your contact information to fellowships@motherjones.com by asking to join our Mother Jones Fellowship Alumni Network page so we can keep you up to date.
More about the program:
