Joel Bleifuss
Joel Bleifuss is an American journalist. He is the editor and publisher of In These Times, a Chicago-based news magazine founded in 1976 by James Weinstein. During Bleifuss' tenure, the magazine has carried articles and columns by members of the U.S. Congressional Progressive Caucus, Arundhati Roy, and Slavoj Žižek, as well as long-time writers, Susan Douglas, David Moberg, and Salim Muwakkil.
Bleifuss has worked as an investigative reporter and columnist for In These Times since 1986, when it was published as a tabloid newspaper. He became managing editor in 1998 and editor the following year. Bleifuss writes frequently on U.S. politics, foreign policy, and environmental affairs. His columns have covered an array of topics including mad-cow disease and the beef industry, carcinogens in cosmetics, and the "October Surprise" preceding the 1980 U.S. presidential elections.
During the years of the George W. Bush administration, Bleifuss worked with American novelist Kurt Vonnegut on a variety of articles, interviews, and short comic essays which appeared in magazines and were republished in La Jornada and other media outlets. A Man Without a Country, the last book Vonnegut published during his lifetime, includes material that originally appeared in In These Times.
Before working at In These Times, Bleifuss was a features writer at the Fulton Sun, in Fulton, Missouri. His criticisms of the public relations industry have appeared in the Utne Reader and on the op-ed page of The New York Times.
Bleifuss' articles have been featured on Project Censored's list of suppressed news stories more than those of any other American journalist.
He lives in Chicago, Illinois.
