June 16, 2011

Once Upon an iPad: Summer Reading List

Once magazine.

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“Take time to stare,” beckons the tagline for Once, a new-media paean to old-school photojournalism. Cocreated by ex-MoJo intern Taylor Wiles, Once is the first tablet-only magazine devoted exclusively to narrative photo essays. (Sign up on the Once website to get the first issue later this summer.) Below, four more Pad-tastic innovations not funded by Richard Branson or Rupert Murdoch:

The Atavist: The “boutique publishing house” commissions original nonfiction, formats it especially for digital devices, and sells it a la carte.

Byliner: Best known (so far) for Jon Krakauer’s “Three Cups of Deceit,” this startup offers “Byliner Originals” that fall somewhere in length between magazine stories and books. The writer gets half the proceeds.

Instapaper: A commuter favorite originally designed for the iPhone, this do-it-yourself reader allows you to clip and save articles into an elegant instant newspaper.

Palimpsest: Think of it as a bespoke aggregator based on your own reading habits. Each day, curators from sites dedicated to the long form handpick articles from The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, GQ, and other mags. The selections are then customized to taste.

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This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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