National Geographic fans worry about partnership with Rupert Murdoch

On Wednesday, Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox paid $725 million for 73 percent control of a partnership with National Geographic’s media arm, giving Murdoch and his media empire sway over the magazine revered for its science coverage.

In news that saddens many photographers, National Geographic announced that they will be partnering with Twentieth Century Fox, owned by Rupert Murdoch, and becoming a for-profit magazine. Those assets, according to a statement, include “National Geographic magazines; National Geographic Studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children’s media; and ancillary activities, including travel, location-based entertainment, archival sales, catalog, licensing and ecommerce businesses”. “The value generated by this transaction, including the consistent and attractive revenue stream that National Geographic Partners will deliver, ensures that we will have greater resources for this work, which includes our grant making programs that support scientists and explorers around the world.”Moore said”.

All of National Geographic Society’s media properties will now be jointly managed and operated with 21st Century Fox.

“Rupert Murdoch owning National Geographic is like putting Dr. Kevorkian in charge of a hospice”, photographer James Cooper wrote on Twitter. He refuses to believe that humans are the reason behind the world’s rising temperatures, and feels that we can do little to stop it. His media outlets, in one way or the other, seem to corroborate his views.

Fox and National Geographic have worked together in the past, and together put together a very well-respected “Cosmos” series with Neil deGrasse Tyson, so we should probably wait and see how this turns out, and hope for the best.

National Geographic magazine Editor-in-Chief Susan Goldberg, who joined the nonprofit in 2014 after leadership roles at Bloomberg News and in newspapers, said Fox executives were committed to maintaining the magazine’s editorial independence.

“I don’t think that they would be investing in this brand if it weren’t to keep the quality of what National Geographic stands for”, Knell told The Sydney Morning Herald. The Society’s endowment will grow to more than $1 billion with the sale, but it loses a controlling position, although an equal number of board seats will go to each organization. Knell would be the first board chairman of the brand new enterprise. The other two winners will be announced later this month. Future plans call for a new education center devoted to improving geographic skills of high school students and the creation of centers of excellence in cartography, journalism and photography.

The deal comes not long after the not-for-profit Sesame Workshop struck a deal with the for-profit cable power HBO. Officials said that deal would provide “critical funding” to continue producing the show and airing it on PBS, its traditional home.