Mother Jones

[Doug Henwood]

Jeffrey Klein is leaving as editor of Mother Jones. Salon tells the story
at <http://www.salonmagazine.com/media/1998/08/24media.html>. Apparently
his turn to the right was not well received by the board. To Salon's
correspondent, Ashley Craddock (an ex-MJ writer), this raises fears of a
return to - gasp! - political correctness! This in a magazine whose new
issue - the premiere of a redesign/relaunch - features stories about evil
tobacco and drinking by women.

I love the way these things are framed. Moving to the right is perceived as
bold and fresh. Being radical is so moldy! Here's the concluding paragraph,
featuring a quote from The Nation's David Corn:

<quote>In spite of Klein's successes, the magazine will likely continue to
struggle with its identity, says Cobbs: "Where do we go from here? What
do we talk about? Do we sit around and be a bunch of naysayers who
romanticize the '60s and a past that never was, or do we move forward?"
Fears that Klein's decision to leave indicates a victory for the
backward-looking forces of political correctness have several editors
contemplating a job search. Corn, a veteran of leftist reporting, is
quick to sympathize. "If [Klein's departure] means a turn toward
straight-laced identity politics and predictability, it's a bad sign,"
he says. "Magazines aren't political parties, and they're not movements.
They're just magazines. They should be a smorgasbord of opinions, not
have a pre-set code that has to be abided."</quote>

Doug