Jane Mayer - Political Positions

Political Positions

Mayer has been both praised for her advocacy journalism and assailed by accusation of bias. For example, John Hinderaker wrote in 2011, “Jane Mayer is an agenda journalist....Her entire career has been spent carrying water for the Left.” She writes “Talk of the Town” pieces for The New Yorker, in which she has provided intimate personal portraits of people like Nancy Pelosi, Walter Mondale, and environmental activist Bill McKibben, and also at lengthy critiques of powerful figures on the right.

After the publication of Strange Justice, Howard Kurtz noted in The Washington Post that in the preceding few days Mayer and her co-author had “been featured on three ABC programs – 'Turning Point,' 'Nightline' and 'Good Morning America' – as well as on 'Larry King Live,' 'CNN & Co.' and National Public Radio. The Journal and Newsweek have published excerpts; People has a two-page spread.” Mayer's admirers in the media have also been quick to defend her from criticisms from the right.

In September 2009 Mayer was a featured speaker at a fundraiser for the The Nation. She has been a frequent guest on the radio and television program Democracy Now! as well as on Jon Wiener's program in Los Angeles.

She has also participated in a number of events under the auspices of the Open Society Foundation, and was involved with a documentary that was produced with the aid of George Soros.

“Covert Operations: The Billionaire Brothers Who Are Waging a War Against Obama,” Mayer's lengthy critique of Charles and David Koch of Koch Industries, appeared in The New Yorker on August 30, 2010. Mayer was widely praised for having exposed a source of funding for right-wing causes. Some however insisted that the article was unfair. Joseph Lawler, for example, wrote in The American Spectator that “Mayer's article paints a grim portrait of the Koch brothers without actually reporting anything objectionable that they might have done.” And at the National Review, Reihan Salam described Mayer as "one of the most well-regarded investigative reporters of her generation" but thought the article was "disappointing" and "strangely thin".