What s up guys! It s Jason here and welcome back to my YouTube channel,
National Geographic Insight.
Who here remembers National Geographic from decades ago? Those old thick magazines with the
yellow borders. The life and death of the National Geographic Society is a tale as old as time.
If you haven t followed the news in the past one, two decades you re in for a treat.
The Society, unable to keep itself afloat, looked for nefarious means by which to survive.
In this video we will talk about the: ? History of the National Geographic Society
? The National Geographic Society s brushes with controversy
? The Sell Out Deal to FOX ? The Future of National
Geographic in the House of Mouse Before we begin If you wouldn t mind
just tapping that LIKE button for the YouTube algorithm, I would really appreciate it as this
is a brand new channel I started this year. If you ve ever read a National Geographic magazine from
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Thanks for doing that and now let us continue on with What happened to National Geographic?
The History of National Geographic Society Let me take you back--in the beginning--on January
13, 1888, a group of scientists and explorers partied at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C.
Their mission--create a club, or "society for the increase and diffusion of geographical
knowledge." The group codified its organization, established bylaws,
formed a constitution, and elected Gardiner Greene Hubbard as its first president.
His more famous son-in-law, Alexander Graham Bell, succeeded him in 1897 to become the second-ever
president. Under his reign, Bell appointed his son-in-law, Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor,
as the first full-time editor. Bell and Grosvenor came up with the idea of Society
"members," To entice people, they were the first to use narrative photography in magazines.
Nepotism notwithstanding, Grosvernor was a long-lived editor and lasting until the
middle of the 20th century--until 1954. In the 1921 issue of advertising journal
Printer's Ink, Fred Barnard said it first, "One Look is Worth a Thousand Words."
The magazine instantly depicted what took writers thousands of words to accomplish.
In 1888, the first National Geographic magazine hit the newsstands as the Society's official
journal. In 1910, the magazine adopted the yellow border synonymous with National Geographic.
The Society s Brushes With Controversy
National Geographic has not been without controversy. For many people, the magazine
was the first time people saw naked boobs. Readers could gaze at unclothed tribal women.
Some call the photos of nude brown women important anthropological work;
others call it naked exploitation of foreigners--especially nonwhite foreigners.
In 2007, then CEO of the National Geographic Society, John Fahey, said that profit was not
his motivation, but the "business of bringing the world to people" and "inspiring people to
take care of the planet." At the time, the company boasted about 9 million subscribers.
Nine million is a respectable number, but a drop off from its peak of 12 million subscribers in
the 1980s. Since 2007, subscription numbers have dropped to just 3 million in the United States.
Why did the National Geographic Society keep hemorrhaging subscribers?
Part of the problem was Fahey. From 1998 to 2010, as CEO, Fahey oversaw the shift in the magazine's
story focus and mission statement. Recall that Fahey's mission was to inspire "people to care
about the planet." As a result of the change, fewer human interest pieces and an increase in
stories on the environment and animals. In a 2012 interview with Wall Street Journal,
Fahey later acknowledged that the shift in focus to environmentalism did not improve
subscription holder retention. The following year, in 2013,
National Geographic stained its reputation. Egypt's keeper of antiquities, Dr. Zahi Hawass,
allegedly courted National Geographic. The Egyptian archaeologist, Egyptologist,
and disgraced Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs accepted bribes from National Geographic
for access to antiquities, pyramids, and King Tutankhamun. The amount of money exchanged
ranged from $80,000-$200,000 a year which may have been illegal under U.S. law.
National Geographic and Dr. Hawass insisted that everything was on the up and up,
but the stain of the accusation damaged the company's reputation.
Fahey's missteps pale in comparison with National Geographic's deal with the devil.
The Deal
Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe's The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor
Faustus dramatizes Faustus' demonic bargain with Mephistopheles. The "Faustian Bargain"
sees our Dr. Faustus exchanging his soul for knowledge and power. Faustus gains
excellent knowledge and power but is eventually dragged down into hell by Mephistopheles.
National Geographic made its deal with the devil in the early 90s. Their Faustian bargain with
Rupert Murdoch's Fox media empire. Then they got sold to the Mouse--the very icon of a false
idol--Disney collected National Geographic as part of its $52 billion purchase of 21st Century Fox.
Way back in 2001, National Geographic made a deal with Mephistopheles himself, Rupert Murdoch.
Murdoch of Fox media network fame grew the brand and forced it into half a billion homes in most
countries on the face of the Earth. In return, National Geographic sold its soul to remain
solvent, even as Society membership plummet. The big incentive for the National Geographic
Society was a push into media, specifically television. The money incentive made a deal
with FOX more palatable for Society members. After all, what could be better for their philanthropic
ventures than the cold, hard cash that ad revenue and subscriptions to cable T.V. could offer?
The Society's research, grants, and travel expenses were astronomical.
FOX offered the solution--all National Geographic had to do was sign the dotted line in blood
and shift from a nonprofit venture into a for-profit media corporation. FOX would pay
the Society millions of dollars per year for NatGeo content. The money grab did not sit
well with the philanthropic donors and base that comprised most National Geographic's members.
The T.V. media arm constantly quarreled with the magazine staff. Each department sought out
its advertisers and tried to define the brand differently to different people.
As Abe Lincoln himself said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
That conflict and division came to fruition in multiple behind-the-scenes skirmishes.
The National Geographic Society board tried to put the kibosh on several reality T.V. shows.
FOX decided that trashy reality T.V. shows were the future of television. There was a
war of wills, and ultimately FOX won out. From FOX's victory, National Geographic birthed the
reality T.V. shows: Doomsday Preppers, Digger, and Nazi War Diggers. Each show had its share
of controversy and diminished the brand's reputation. In the end, money won out.
National Geographic degraded itself with a lowbrow, lowest common denominator,
trashy reality T.V. show lineup. First, there was Doomsday Preppers--a show that
followed slaw-jawed survivalists preparing for the impending apocalypse. That's the
sneaky thing about evil men like Murdoch--they leverage a respected and well-known name like
National Geographic and then propagandize you with shows with lovable idiots.
To wit, Doomsday Preppers was the highest-rated show in National Geographic's history in its
first year. The company was forced to smother the rating baby in its crib as it provided
a vocal and persistent platform for crazed conspiracy theorists with violent ideologies.
Who can forget gun nut, James Yeager? Yeager ranted on Youtube (as gun nuts want to do)
about his God-given right to execute anyone who challenged his right to own a gun.
Youtube removed the video; then National Geographic had to pull the plug on the episode.
The Sandy Hook massacre was barely a year old. Then it became public knowledge that the Sandy
Hook shooter, Adam Lanza, was a hardcore survivalist and doomsday prepper.
As a result, a Change.org petition argued that National Geographic (the Murdoch
infected portion) was responsible for providing a platform for violent, deranged individuals.
Despite being a ratings bonanza, National Geographic canceled the show in 2014.
Platforming gun nuts was not the only misstep with National Geographic. They also dabbed their toes
into light looting and pillaging with the show Diggers. Larger-than-life characters, King George
Wyant and his sidekick Tim Saylor traversed the United States to hunt for historical artifacts.
In other words, the pair were looting. Sarah Harr in The Society for American
Archaeology's magazine reported that the show violated the organization's "ethical principles"
who engage in "exploiting the past motivated by self-interest." That is not a good look for a
society that ostensibly wants to make people care about the world. Exploitation is not in
line with the National Geographic Society, but it is Rupert Murdoch's specialty.
Amid the controversies and declining subscribers, Murdoch delivered the coup de grace to the
once-revered Society. In 2015, Fox rolled National Geographic into its media empire.
Like a zebra being drug into the abyss by a crocodile, Fox devoured National Geographic.
While the Society exists as a separate organism, the fact remains that the FOX media empire had
its tendrils in the operation of National Geographic. National Geographic shifted from
being a nonprofit organization into a for-profit corporation accountable to its stakeholders.
In late October and early November 2015--the deal with the devil came to fruition.
First, National Geographic drastically slashed its staffing in a cost-savings move.
According to Rupert Murdoch's brood, James Murdoch, nothing would substantially change
at National Geographic when FOX subsumed the company. Like everything that oozes
out of the Murdochs' mouth, that was a lie. It was a nasty truth that nothing in National
Geographic made money--not the magazine or T.V. shows. The only thing that would bring profit
was Murdoch's ax. And the ax was hungry in the fall of 2015. Starting in October of 2015, FOX
made significant cuts to staffing. The reductions continued into November. Magazine subscriptions
were dropping, so were the number of employees. As the body count grew, the money for the Society's
endowment grew. All told, the company axed about 2,000 people--the most extensive mass firing
in the Society's 133-year history. Most of those terminations came with a
terse email, a pat on the back, and a boot out the door.
To keep its philanthropy alive, National Geographic sold its soul.
The days of millions and millions of magazine subscriptions were over. While not significant,
FOX's influence on the T.V. side of things proved to be just the financial boon that the Society
needed to continue operations. In 2015, NatGeo, the media arm of the National Geographic Society,
boasted a quarter of billion dollars in cable T.V. fees. Ad revenue skyrocketed, but at what cost?
What did the company even stand for anymore? As the company platformed the likes of Bill
O'Reilly, the Society's waning influence became more apparent. FOX would no longer be the silent
partner in the relationship. O'Reilly's Killing Reagan aired in 2016. That spiral seemed to be the
final death knell for the National Geographic Society. Then Disney entered the arena.
Future with House of Mouse As Qui Gon Jinn says in Star Wars:
Episode 1--The Phantom Menace, There s always a bigger fish. As part of its 2020 acquisition
of Murdoch s media empire, Disney killed the 20th Century Fox brand--it s now the more mundane, 20th
Century Television. National Geographic s media arm came as part of the $71.3 billion deal.
Disney is no stranger to exploiting and commoditizing the natural world,
so its acquisition of National Geographic makes sense in a grossly exploitative way.
In 1958, Disney released the movie White Wilderness. In that movie,
Disney studios filmed the lives of lemmings--cute little rodents that live in
the frozen tundra. The movie helped establish the lemming-of-a-cliff suicide myth. In 1983,
the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation revealed that Disney purchased the lemmings and had its
directors fling the live rodents off the cliff to make for compelling wildlife videography.
Disney s Discovery Island was ostensibly a bird sanctuary. Located in Disney World, the island
provided habitat for local bird species. The zoological park was a hit with guests, but the
guests didn t know that Disney s park operators regularly abused the animals. In 1989, the Orlando
Sentinel reported that Disney employees beat birds and starved them to death. In the end, Disney paid
a pittance of a fine and closed the park. Ten years after the bird murder at Discovery
Island, Disney opened an attraction named Animal Kingdom. The park was supposed to be
a celebration of biodiversity in the animal kingdom. Instead, about thirty animals died
in transit to the park, or in the park from starvation, abuse, and neglect.
Disney has plenty of practice exploiting and destroying the natural world. As the behemoth
media company consumes the National Geographic brand, there are many concerns and questions.
In the end, the magazine and the T.V. shows are now the same organization. They are part of the
for-profit National Geographic Partners. As the details of the Disney purchase come to
light--the harsh reality materializes. We are left with the hollow, money-grubbing,
dead National Geographic Society owned by Disney and slave to their corporate interests.
It was a long, inevitable decline for the National Geographic Society.
Gone are the halcyon days of Alexander Graham Bell and the pursuit of knowledge. Let's see
what the Mouse has in store for the company. The devil, as always, is in the details.
So with that said, thank you so much for watching my video. What do you think of
National Geographic? Is there anything you would ve done differently if you were managing
the company? There was a significant amount of research, production and reading old issues of
National Geographic that went into making this video possible. If you haven t seen already,
check out my video on the Rise and Fall of Playboy and the Rise and Fall of Toys R Us.
Let me know if there s any other companies you would like me to explore. As always,
stay happy and healthy and stay tuned for another episode of Company Insight next week.