Jeffrey Bruce Klein, the influential co-founder of Mother Jones magazine, passed away at 77 on March 13. He played a key role in transforming left-wing journalism, particularly through his focus on government and corporate malfeasance. Klein, who was significantly influenced by the 1960s counterculture, helped to launch Mother Jones in 1976, aiming to bring a more critical voice to political discourse. He returned in 1992 as editor in chief, successfully rebranding it for a younger, digital audience, thus ensuring its relevance in a changing media landscape.
Klein was an East Coast transplant to the Bay Area, drawn in the midst of 1960s counterculture by the possibility that the era's anti-establishment character could continue to drive the region's lively left-wing journalism.
Mr. Klein was officially the magazine's literary editor, though in practice he commissioned writers of all kinds.
In 1974 he joined Adam Hochschild, Paul Jacobs and Richard Parker to plan a publication that would expand the left's focus on government malfeasance to include corporate muckraking.
They called it Mother Jones, in honor of the fiery labor leader Mary Harris Jones.
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