It wasannounced yesterdaythat 21st Century Fox and the National Geographic Society are creating a for - net , commercial company that will cover all National Geographic properties , including its mag , websites and television channels . Fox will own 73 % of this new companionship .
The National Geographic Society has existedsince 1888 and has always been a non - profit institution . It is world - renowned for its journalism and its funding of scientific expeditions , and is one of the declamatory scientific organisation in the world .
Its young partner 21st Century Fox is none of those things . An enormous media corporation found by Rupert Murdoch , it ’s difficult to see how their nonesuch align . Murdoch himself for example , is aclimate - change skepticand his various property seem to embracesimilar agnosticism .
And yet , this declaration is n’t entirely out of the left - arena . NatGeo and Fox have been partnered for a long metre onNatGeo ’s television system communication channel , which was launch in 2011 . In their 18 year association , there ’s never been any suggestion that NatGeo lost any of its editorial integrity . But this is a whole new bollock - game – if they were flirting before , they ’re thoroughly in seam together now .
On itsFacebook page , NatGeo had this to say :
Throughout our 18 - year partnership with 21st Century Fox we ’ve maintained editorial autonomy . We fully expect this to go on and National Geographic will continue to produce groundbreaking ceremony capacity such as Tracking Ivory , the September blanket story of National Geographic magazine publisher .
Fox is of course , an enormous caller . Perhaps we should n’t all panic immediately . Science is n’t a all novel topic for them , after all – they funded and transmit Neil deGrasse Tyson’sCosmosseries , which was fabulously well - receive by the scientific community and worldwide populace likewise .
I would be deeply surprised if this deal were to leave in a drop-off of the scientific rigor that we have total to have a bun in the oven from National Geographic . NatGeo is staffed by thousands of the world ’s unspoilt scientist and journalist , all of whom would be the first to run for the hills if they felt their editorial integrity was being endanger .
But nevertheless , this will exchange things . For - lucre companies have sound obligation that non - earnings just do n’t . It ’s not a secret that manyolder news organizations are struggling to adapt to the digital landscape , and NatGeo clearly has n’t break away its part of government issue . Non - profit it might have been , but it still needs to pay off its staff – and those scientific sashay it pecuniary resource do n’t come bum .
Turning a non - profit entity into a profitable company will need compromise . That woefully is just a fact , and it ’s one we ’re familiar with at IFLS . beneficial journalism and effective scientific discipline is expensive . Just today , for example , the find of anew human ancestorwas announced in South Africa . Our news editor , Dr Justine Alford , travel to the site in South Africa , interviewed the researchers and attend to the imperativeness events there . Chances are we wo n’t break in even on that floor . We might not even break even on her wage for the week she ’s expend there , let alone the travel costs . Alternately , yesterday ’s “ report ” onadding propane to colatook around 20 minute to make , and has garnered enough page scene since then to pay the peak for the next week .
It ’s a story seen throughout the media industry . Why pay for quality television programming when reality television is so garish to grow and so popular ? Discovery has number under pressure for itssensationalist tacticsand has even been accused ofoutright lying to scientiststo get quotes for their “ mockumentaries . ” It was rightly take to task for it , and it ’s why Iwon’t be creating a television showwith it any time soon , despite plan . But I sympathise . It ’s a for - lucre organization , it has obligations to their shareowner , and what is it to do when people just are n’t watching the quality science program any longer ?
These are the choices that will be face by National Geographic now . How much do you compromise ? How much are you willing to do , and how much integrity are you unforced to sacrifice so as to keep your organization going ? I like to jest that the click - bait at IFLS make up the bills , and allow us to spend time create the content we really require to create – because that really does n’t give the bills . I wish every day that I had n’t given away equity in the early days of IFLS , and that I could turn it into a non - profit organisation . Unfortunately , at the time I had no selection . I was a broke student who needed service , and equity was all I had to offer . I do n’t rue that decison , but I do have to survive with the repercussion every daytime . I have shareholders , and I have obligations to them .
National Geographic now has those indebtedness too .
