Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR)

In February 2024, CIR merged with media outlet Mother Jones where the two groups would operate as a single organization while still producing, according to the announcement, “[the] Mother Jones’ magazine and website, the Reveal radio show and podcast, and documentary films, such as The Grab, which investigates efforts to control the planet’s supply of food and water.” ³

History

The Center for Investigative Reporting was founded in 1977 by journalists Lowell Bergman, Dan Noyes, and David Weir in downtown Oakland, California. Throughout the next 40 years, CIR engaged in a wide range of muckraking-style journalism, writing stories on the decline of the Black Panther Party, illegal sales of pesticides by American companies, nuclear weapons testing, and alleged spying by the FBI on political enemies of President Ronald Reagan. CIR reports have appeared on National Public Radio, on “Frontline,” in the Washington Post, and at other prominent news outlets. ¹

In February 2024, CIR merged with media outlet Mother Jones where the two groups would operate as a single organization while still producing, according to the announcement, “[the] Mother Jones’ magazine and website, the Reveal radio show and podcast, and documentary films, such as The Grab, which investigates efforts to control the planet’s supply of food and water.” ³ Monika Bauerlein, who was previously CEO and co-editor of Mother Jones was appointed the CEO of CIR while Clara Jefrey, who was co-editor of Mother Jones with Bauerlein, was appointed as editor-in-chief of CIR. ³

Activities

The Center for Investigative Reporting’s major stories in 2021 included an exploration of allegedly dangerous working conditions in Amazon warehouses, alleged abuses in immigrant detention facilities, and a look into the U.S. government’s evacuation of American personnel stationed in Afghanistan. ⁴

In 2020, CIR’s major stories focused on state and federal government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, including California’s deconstruction of medical capacity reserves established under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and inequalities in the distribution of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, as well as stories on alleged racism in reproductive healthcare, allegations of sexual abuse among Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the use of unpaid labor in drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers. ⁵

Controversies

Planet Aid Lawsuit

According to the Center for Investigative Reporting, in 2016, Reveal News began publishing stories about Planet Aid, a non-profit that has received funding from the U.S. government to provide charitable services in Africa, over potential fraud and bribery. CIR claimed that its reporting and a BBC radio documentary based on it led the British government to stop funding a subcontractor of Planet Aid in Malawi. ⁶

Months after the stories were published, Planet Aid sued CIR for libel in the United States. CIR ceased publishing new stories on Planet Aid, but in November 2019, the organization published an article describing what it called the “frivolous” lawsuit and accusing Planet Aid of attempting to bankrupt CIR and suppress its reporting. ⁶

In March 2021, Planet Aid’s lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge. ⁷ In 2022, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal. ⁸

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The Center for Investigative Reporting is dedicated to upholding left-of-center diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles within its organization. In 2018, CIR redoubled its diversity efforts with a plan that included appointing two non-white female board members, hiring or promoting five non-white editors or managers, launching DEI discussion groups, and providing implicit bias training sessions. ⁹

Since at least 2016, CIR has prioritized the hiring of non-white employees, leading to an increase in non-white employees from 25% in 2015 to 37% in 2020. Reveal’s Diversity Report 2020 stated that 60% of new hires were non-white or non-Asian, and 73% of new hires were female. ⁹

In 2020, CIR released a “diversity report” which revealed the race, ethnicity, religion, gender, and sexual orientation breakdown of its employees and managers. The report also surveyed employees on which social class they identified with (e.g., “working class”), and whether they grew up with “class privilege.” ⁹

Funding

The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) is funded by left-of-center grantmaking nonprofits including Arnold Ventures, the Gates Foundation, Catherine Hawkins Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Democracy Fund, Elizabeth R. and William J. Patterson Foundation, Emerson Collective, Ford Foundation, FThree Foundation, Fund for Nonprofit News at The Miami Foundation, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Gruber Family Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, Hellman Foundation, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Inasmuch Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, FJC: A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Park Foundation, Reva and David Logan Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, San Simeon Fund, Tides Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. ²

Leadership

Following the merger of Mother Jones with the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) in 2024, Monika Bauerlein is the CEO of CIR. She previously served as CEO and co-editor of Mother Jones (along with Clara Jeffrey). ^{10 11}

Clara Jefrey is the Editor-In-Chief of the CIR, which produces media publications such as Mother Jones. She was previously co-editor of Mother Jones with Monika Bauerlein before she was appointed CEO. Prior to this, she was the president of the American Society of Magazine Editors. ^{10 11}

Robert J. Rosenthal is the CEO emirates of CIR as of the merger with Mother Jones in February 2024. Prior to this he was the executive director of Reveal from 2008 through 2017. Prior to this he served in several positions with the Philadelphia Inquirer such as a reporter and later the executive editor, managing editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, and was a reporter for both the Boston Globe and the New York Times. ^{10 11}