Clara Jeffery

Notable work and positions

Mother Jones — Editor-in-Chief
Harper's Magazine — former Senior Editor
Washington City Paper — former Senior Editor
Chicago Reporter — former Reporter/Editor

Biography

Clara Jeffery was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and raised in Arlington, Virginia. She earned a bachelor's degree from Carleton College, graduating in 1989, and a Master of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University in 1993. She began her career as a reporter and editor at the Chicago Reporter and at Washington City Paper before becoming a senior editor at Harper's Magazine, a position she held for nearly seven years; while there, she edited work that produced more than ten National Magazine Award finalist nominations, and her selections were included in the Best American Essays, Best American Science Writing, Best American Sports Writing and Best American Travel Writing anthologies.

Jeffery joined Mother Jones as deputy editor in 2002. In August 2006, she and Monika Bauerlein, her former editor at the Minneapolis alternative weekly City Pages, were named co-editors-in-chief of the magazine. Under their joint leadership, Mother Jones won National Magazine Awards for General Excellence and Best Feature Writing and an international Data Journalism Award for Data-Driven Investigation, established bureaus in Washington, D.C. and New York, and grew its print circulation to more than 215,000. In 2012, Mother Jones published a secretly recorded video of presidential candidate Mitt Romney's remarks that 47 percent of voters were “dependent on government,” a story that drew national attention during that year's election.

In May 2015, Jeffery became Mother Jones' sole editor-in-chief, with Bauerlein taking on the newly created role of chief executive officer. Mother Jones won the National Magazine Award for Magazine of the Year in 2017 under Jeffery's editorship. In 2024, following Mother Jones' merger with the Center for Investigative Reporting, Jeffery was named editor-in-chief of the combined organization, which also produces the public radio show and podcast Reveal and the podcast More To The Story. She has received the PEN/Nora Magid Award for magazine editing.

Career highlights

1. Editor-in-Chief, Mother Jones, since 2015. Became sole editor-in-chief after nine years of co-leading the magazine with Monika Bauerlein; led it to the National Magazine Award for Magazine of the Year in 2017.

2. Publication of the Romney “47 percent” video, 2012. Oversaw Mother Jones' release of the secretly recorded video that became a defining moment of that year's presidential campaign.

3. PEN/Nora Magid Award for Magazine Editing. Recognized for her editing career, including her leadership at Mother Jones and earlier work at Harper's Magazine.

4. Editor-in-Chief of the merged Mother Jones/CIR organization, 2024. Named to lead the combined newsroom following Mother Jones' merger with the Center for Investigative Reporting.