(New York) The monthly National Geographic with the familiar yellow-bordered cover will no longer be on newsstands starting next year, as part of budget cuts affecting the venerable magazine.
The company is focused on its digital product and will offer special editions on newsstands, a spokesperson said Thursday. Subscribers will still receive a printed copy each month.
Newsstand sales represent a small percentage of the magazine’s monthly circulation, just under 1.8 million copies, the magazine said.
Even a magazine that began publishing in 1888 is not immune to financial headwinds affecting the media. Best known for its colorful photographs taken around the world, the magazine was started more than a century ago by the National Geographic Society, which supports science and exploration.
Control of National Geographic has changed twice in the past decade, first in a sale to 20th Century Fox before being acquired by Walt Disney Corp. in 2019. He was hit with a series of layoffs.
Craig Welch wrote on Twitter on Wednesday that his new issue of the magazine had just arrived, featuring his 16th and final feature story as the magazine’s senior editor.
“NatGeo is laying off all of its in-house journalists,” he wrote.
The magazine said that while it is correct that there is no longer anyone with the title of journalist in the regular team, there are people who write and do layout. The media will turn to outside collaborators to write articles. The changes came following a reorganization in April.
The company would not discuss the number of people who lost their jobs.
“National Geographic will continue to publish a monthly magazine dedicated to telling exceptional stories across multiple platforms with cultural impact,” spokesperson Chris Albert said. Staff changes do 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 recent changes will negatively impact the magazine or the quality of our stories is simply incorrect,” he said.
