Greater Boston resident Jon Hagler pledges $1.25 million to support the Center for Investigative Reporting’s Sustainability Fund and newsroom initiatives

The Center for Investigative Reporting, which produces Mother Jones and the public radio show and podcast “Reveal,” announced it recently received a $1.25 million pledge from Greater Boston resident and longtime supporter Jon L. Hagler. Of his contribution, $1 million is earmarked for the nonprofit news organization’s Sustainability Fund to support its journalism and protect it against existential threats, such as lawsuits. The remaining funds will support urgent newsroom initiatives. 

“Jon deeply understands how critical an independent press is to this country — especially at a time like now, when the federal government and powerful actors are threatening reporters’ right to cover the news,” said Monika Bauerlein, CIR’s CEO. “We are so grateful for his generosity in helping us investigate abuses of power and beat back legal challenges designed to undermine our reporting.”

In addition to his financial support of CIR, Hagler has long been a major funder of “Frontline,” the investigative show produced by GBH Boston; PBS; Massachusetts General Hospital; and Texas A&M University in College Station.

“I made this gift because I believe Mother Jones is fighting the good fight at great legal risk to the organization, and I’m so impressed by Monika and the outstanding work she and the newsroom do every day to hold the powerful interests in this country accountable,” Hagler said. “With Mother Jones and ‘Reveal,’ I know those big — but largely unwritten — stories in the United States will get the time and attention they deserve.”

The Center for Investigative Reporting produces Mother Jones, the weekly investigative public radio show and podcast “Reveal,” and the weekly interview podcast “More To The Story”. CIR is listener- and reader-supported, with offices in San Francisco; Washington, DC; and New York City.