Tuesday, September 16th 2025
Mother Jones is an investigative news organization that delivers “multiplatform reporting on the urgent issues of our time, from democracy protection and climate change to extremism and beyond.” They’ve recently issued a call for their Mixed Media section; “Think arts criticism, essays, interviews.” “Mixed Media is the culture section of our magazine. We welcome pitches for 1,500- to 2,500-word reported essays, profiles, and culture dispatches, especially those that examine structures of power, explore identity, or illuminate cultural undercurrents.” Rates start at $1.75/word for print and $0.75 for online. See the call here and their general pitch guide here.
Thursday, September 4th 2025
Mother Jones is an investigative news organization. Their deputy managing editor is seeking pitches for their print culture section, Mixed Media: “These are ~2,000-word essays that combine reporting, cultural criticism, historical research, and/or personal narrative." "We don’t typically publish standalone reviews or Q&As; instead, these are reported essays that make a clear argument using multiple sources. We’re especially interested in pieces that have a strong time peg that will be relevant for our first few issues of 2026.” Rates begin at $1.75 per word for print and $0.75 per word for online-only stories. Pitches should be sent to smurguia@motherjones.com. For more information, refer to their deputy managing editor’s post and their freelance writer guidelines.
Friday, August 8th 2025
Mother Jones
An editor has issued a pitch call for Mother Jones: “I don't normally edit @motherjones.com's culture writing, but please pitch me a good essay that makes coherent sense of the political discourse around Caitlin Clark, Sydney Sweeney, and Taylor Swift”. For online, rates start at $0.75 a word, and for print, rates start at $1.75 per word. See the pitch call here and Mother Jones’ guidelines for web and print here.
Friday, August 8th 2025
Mother Jones is an investigative news organization. Their senior news editor is seeking pitches for a “good essay that makes coherent sense of the political discourse around Caitlin Clark, Sydney Sweeney, and Taylor Swift.” Print rates begin at $1.75/word, and online rates begin at $0.75/word. For details, refer to their senior news editor’s post and their freelance writer guidelines.
Tuesday, April 30th 2024
Mother Jones is an investigative news organization. Their articles editor is seeking pitches for the Mother Tongue column. The column tries to “denaturalize a phrase that's been ubiquitous—and then give a strong take through that process.” Pay is $1,000 per piece (600-800 words). Pitches should be sent to jrosenberg@motherjones.com. To learn more, refer to their articles editor’s post and their freelance writer guidelines.
Tuesday, January 3rd 2023
Mother Jones is an investigative news organization. They are “commissioning online features and magazine stories: culture essays, back-of-the-book columns, front-of-the-book dispatches, and features/profiles.” Their print rates begin at $1.75 per word and online rates begin at $0.75 per word. To learn more, refer to their editorial director’s tweet and their freelance writer guidelines.
Thursday, March 31st 2022
Mother
Jones is an investigative news organization. They are seeking pitches for their
print culture section, Mixed Media. They are especially seeking pitches that “examine
structures of power, explore identity, or illuminate cultural undercurrents.”
They want pitches for stories of 1,500 to 2,500 words. Starting rate for lead
essays is $3,000. If interested, email
your pitches to moatman@motherjones.com.
You can also pitch their Mother Tongue column. Rate for Mother Tongue column is
$1,000 for 600 to 800 words. Pitches should be emailed to jrosenberg@motherjones.com. For
details, read their editors’ Twitter threads here and here.
Contact them here.