This year has seen the entertainment giant Disney lay off thousands of its employees. Now those cuts have affected Disney-owned National Geographic, one of America’s most-read magazines. (RELATED: Disney Is Going to Lose (Again) to Florida and Ron DeSantis)
Earlier this week, former staff writers at the magazine began tweeting their goodbyes. One such former writer, Nina Strochlic, said, “It’s been an epic run, @NatGeo … My colleagues and I were unbelievably lucky to be the last-ever class of staff writers,” according to CNN.
According to the Washington Post, the magazine’s readership has dwindled since it reached 12 million subscribers in the 1980s. Last year, it had only 1.7 million readers, which, while far less, still makes the magazine quite popular. (RELATED: Rebuilding National Geographic)
Now freelancers and editors will take on the work of the staff writers, the Washington Post reports, and American newsstands will no longer carry the magazine starting in 2024.
This change matches the magazine’s current approach to photojournalists, who, since at least 2012, have almost exclusively been freelancers. However, even photojournalists are impacted, as the funds available for those contracts have been reduced.
National Geographic, however, is not alone in cutting employees. The digital revolution has brought difficulties to the entire magazine and media industry.
Bloomberg, the Los Angeles Times, Spotify, Fox, ESPN, Buzzfeed, ABC, NPR, the Washington Post, NBC, and MSNBC have collectively laid off hundreds of employees this year, resulting in the cancellation of various podcasts and shows; all in an effort to cut costs.
At National Geographic, these cuts go all the way to the top as the corporation’s diversity, equity, and inclusion vice president was laid off after less than a year on the job.
National Geographic told the press that the reports on Twitter from former writers were not holistic. Some staff writers would remain, and the magazine’s quality will be unchanged.
Commenting on the changes, a National Geographic spokesman said:
Staffing changes will not change our ability to do this work, but rather give us more flexibility to tell different stories and meet our audiences where they are across our many platforms … Any insinuation that the recent changes will negatively impact the magazine, or the quality of our storytelling is simply incorrect.
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Halfway through earning a Master’s in national security at the Institute of World Politics, Mason Stauffer is part of The American Spectator’s 2023 intern class. When he isn’t preparing for his future career in the national security sector, Mason can usually be found hiking through the National Park System or playing his trumpet.