The Sinking of National Geographic

Rupert Murdoch Axes Award Winning Staff

Read the toll Rupert Murdoch’s takeover of National Geographic is having:

Will the beloved institution National Geographic become just another Fox News outlet?

In September, Rupert Murdoch became the majority stock holder of the National Geographic Society. This group has published the yellow covered magazine since October 1888.

Millions of readers were invited to explore the world from their living rooms.

Both the written words and the stellar photographs captured our imaginations and won countless awards.

Employees from all departments were vulnerable in the largest layoffs in the magazine’s history. Nearly 10% of the workforce was laid odd.

And just how were these creative and valuable employees notified of impending doom layoffs? By email advising them to stand by their phones.

The management of National Geographic sent out an email telling its staff, all of its staff, all to report to their headquarters, and wait by their phones. This pulled back every person who was in the field, every photographer, every reporter, even those on vacation had to show up on this fateful day.

Not only did many employees lose their jobs, more are facing frozen pension plans and reduced (if any) medical coverage upon retirement.

While many of us still have shelves lined with the bright yellow spines, it is safe to say that our faith in the quality and integrity of the publication has been shaken.

At least it might make us less likely to end up in an episode of Hoarders.

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Original article by Nathaniel Downes on Reverb Press and Elizabeth Preston on IfYouOnlyNews.com

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