Long form reporting is as endangered as the tribes National Geographic used to cover. I, too, pored over print issues with my mouth hanging open. Countless mysteries of the world revealed to my young adventure loving mind in my safe suburban bedroom.
"I want to go there!" I thought.
I still have a digital subscription which is a wan shadow of what it once was. Thank you for writing an ode to the rich history of National Geograhic.
This post really spoke to me. I shared it to my FB page. It is so sad the generations of youngsters will not have the chance to learn from National Geographic. I am also sad I got rid of boxes of older magazines... wish I had kept them.
i stopped reading years ago when every article was an excuse to critisize humanity and push whatever popular social agenda. it just became depressing and irritating - no longer enlightening or entertaining.
Whilst I'm also saddened by the demise of good-quality print materials, I just want to mention, for
balance, that beyond " shallow TV shows" and "TikTok", digital media also gave us fantastic new learning contents for curious minds, e.g. Ted talks, Veritasium episodes or podcasts like Lex Fridman's .
what we need is a really good app for this magazine. As an early adapter I am passed the era of social media and really hoping/looking for an alternative. Infinite scrolling that is not stupid and/or negative.
Such a masterful article. I haven’t respected National Graphic for years since I was suspicious of their agenda and authenticity. But I lived the life you talk about in your youth and did benefit from the sense of wonder of the world outside my backyard.
I share your childhood experiences with this great magazine. You make a really good point when you say: "...the group that started the magazine, the National Geographic Society, which used to run on a budget of millions, now has 1.6 billion dollars in its piggy bank."
I had a quick look at the Society's strategic plan, called "NG Next." The Society intends to continue funding exploration and education, but also feels it must focus on "illumination" - the sharing of knowledge and information.
Curiously, when the plan was written in 2021, the Society still envisaged using the magazine, that now, as you point out, is being wound down. Here's a vision of the future that the Society included in that strategic plan.
I quote:
"Let’s imagine it’s 2030. The world looks strikingly different from the one Israel Russell
lived in when he led the Society’s first scientific expedition nearly a century and a half earlier.
The cover of National Geographic magazine is awash in shades of blue from an
enchanting underwater image teeming with life beneath the sea. The cover
announces, 'For all of the challenges we face, nature has a solution.' The lead
story celebrates a breakthrough technology launched by one of the Society’s
signature programs"
I wonder, sadly, what happened to that vision in such a short amount of time.
I remember when I moved my family to my first "real job" back in 1971 as an Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia, and one of the important family treasures was the wall of National Graphics. These individual treasures were transported in dozens of banana boxes to their new home - another ubiquitous book case made of painted planks stretched across cinder blocks. And once again, the magazines formed a wall in my den. I and my wife, along with our three daughters LOVED those books. Yes, books. It was an insult to refer to them as a magazine.
Now, after decades of monthly delights arriving in our mailbox, my wife and I decided to unsubscribe. For us, the tide started to turn when Fox took ownership, but the death knoll sounded right after Disney took over.
We still subscribe to the both National Geographic Networks, but their content has also been largely reduced to rural veterinarians and smugglers. Maybe they will soon make a series in which veterinarians are smuggling illegal animals. That way they can kill two birds with one stone. And the circle will finally be complete.
Thanks Editor Susan Goldberg for killing National Geographic by pushing your diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda on us readers. Before you took over the cherished magazine did not, as you claimed, "promote racist clichés." I know propaganda when I see it. I stopped my subscription, I regret to say, along with millions of others.
Sure, its inspiring but it was also very elitist showcasing how the rich traveled and could marvel at the world. To be able to afford national geographic was another sign of your first class wealth. The only time I got to see one was in a dentist waiting room and then they were out of date reporting in an old fashion style with glossy photos. No...fuck NG for exposing upper class toffs and daddy funded rich kids into ruining far off places with their patronizing behaviour.
Long form reporting is as endangered as the tribes National Geographic used to cover. I, too, pored over print issues with my mouth hanging open. Countless mysteries of the world revealed to my young adventure loving mind in my safe suburban bedroom.
"I want to go there!" I thought.
I still have a digital subscription which is a wan shadow of what it once was. Thank you for writing an ode to the rich history of National Geograhic.
This post really spoke to me. I shared it to my FB page. It is so sad the generations of youngsters will not have the chance to learn from National Geographic. I am also sad I got rid of boxes of older magazines... wish I had kept them.
i stopped reading years ago when every article was an excuse to critisize humanity and push whatever popular social agenda. it just became depressing and irritating - no longer enlightening or entertaining.
Great article.
Whilst I'm also saddened by the demise of good-quality print materials, I just want to mention, for
balance, that beyond " shallow TV shows" and "TikTok", digital media also gave us fantastic new learning contents for curious minds, e.g. Ted talks, Veritasium episodes or podcasts like Lex Fridman's .
File under: brands that eat their young. Sigh.
what we need is a really good app for this magazine. As an early adapter I am passed the era of social media and really hoping/looking for an alternative. Infinite scrolling that is not stupid and/or negative.
Such a masterful article. I haven’t respected National Graphic for years since I was suspicious of their agenda and authenticity. But I lived the life you talk about in your youth and did benefit from the sense of wonder of the world outside my backyard.
I share your childhood experiences with this great magazine. You make a really good point when you say: "...the group that started the magazine, the National Geographic Society, which used to run on a budget of millions, now has 1.6 billion dollars in its piggy bank."
I had a quick look at the Society's strategic plan, called "NG Next." The Society intends to continue funding exploration and education, but also feels it must focus on "illumination" - the sharing of knowledge and information.
Curiously, when the plan was written in 2021, the Society still envisaged using the magazine, that now, as you point out, is being wound down. Here's a vision of the future that the Society included in that strategic plan.
I quote:
"Let’s imagine it’s 2030. The world looks strikingly different from the one Israel Russell
lived in when he led the Society’s first scientific expedition nearly a century and a half earlier.
The cover of National Geographic magazine is awash in shades of blue from an
enchanting underwater image teeming with life beneath the sea. The cover
announces, 'For all of the challenges we face, nature has a solution.' The lead
story celebrates a breakthrough technology launched by one of the Society’s
signature programs"
I wonder, sadly, what happened to that vision in such a short amount of time.
I remember when I moved my family to my first "real job" back in 1971 as an Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia, and one of the important family treasures was the wall of National Graphics. These individual treasures were transported in dozens of banana boxes to their new home - another ubiquitous book case made of painted planks stretched across cinder blocks. And once again, the magazines formed a wall in my den. I and my wife, along with our three daughters LOVED those books. Yes, books. It was an insult to refer to them as a magazine.
Now, after decades of monthly delights arriving in our mailbox, my wife and I decided to unsubscribe. For us, the tide started to turn when Fox took ownership, but the death knoll sounded right after Disney took over.
We still subscribe to the both National Geographic Networks, but their content has also been largely reduced to rural veterinarians and smugglers. Maybe they will soon make a series in which veterinarians are smuggling illegal animals. That way they can kill two birds with one stone. And the circle will finally be complete.
Thanks Editor Susan Goldberg for killing National Geographic by pushing your diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda on us readers. Before you took over the cherished magazine did not, as you claimed, "promote racist clichés." I know propaganda when I see it. I stopped my subscription, I regret to say, along with millions of others.
Sure, its inspiring but it was also very elitist showcasing how the rich traveled and could marvel at the world. To be able to afford national geographic was another sign of your first class wealth. The only time I got to see one was in a dentist waiting room and then they were out of date reporting in an old fashion style with glossy photos. No...fuck NG for exposing upper class toffs and daddy funded rich kids into ruining far off places with their patronizing behaviour.