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Published 8 years ago by FivesandSevens with 5 Comments

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  • FivesandSevens
    +9

    I'll be looking forward to such fair and balanced articles as "Polar Bears: Better Off Without Ice?" and "A Photographic Journey Into The War On Rich White Men."

  • Cobbydaler (edited 8 years ago)
    +7

    Madness. What were NG thinking? No more science based reporting on global warming/climate change (unless they have an editorial independence clause) . An absolute disaster.

    • FivesandSevens (edited 8 years ago)
      +7

      Exactly. I really blanched when I read their attempt at reassuring people that their view of climate change would not conflict with NG's scientific mission:

      In response to the concern about conflicting outlooks, executives underscored that the agreement builds upon an 18-year partnership between the two groups for National Geographic Channels, a moneymaking venture of domestic and international cable TV channels available in more than 500 million homes in 171 countries. Mr. Knell said that during that time, Fox had not exerted “any sort of political or editorial interference.”

      Can't fool me with that. I've seen those channels. They're one of my pet TV peeves because 1) The programs are shit, unless you really like comically dramatic fear-mongering shows about drugs, prisons or dangerous animals, and 2) none of them even approach discussing issues of real importance in science or any other fields. There's no need for political or editorial interference if you're just slapping a yellow rectangle on some lowest-common-denominator crap. Only the History Channel (U.S.) has abdicated more of its potential to inform (unless you really, really like Alaska, armageddon, and antiques).

      Apologies. I didn't set out to write a rant-y comment, but...

  • Kalysta
    +3

    While I mourn the loss of National Geographic's print media, their current televison selections are crap and will fit in nicely in the Fox media empire. The Incredible Doctor Pol represents the best of veterinary medicine back in the 1920s when we didn't know what anaesthesia and pain meds were, and The Dog Whisperer depicts the journey of a guy who can't seem to understand current best practices in animal behavior science. Add in this channel's odd love of cop shows (Alaska State Troopers, Rocky Mountain Law and Southern Justice) and you've got a conservative's wet dream of programming.

    I truly fear what's going to happen to the magazine, and especially what's going to happen with the children's educational materials. I'm sure Fox would love bending impressionable minds to their inability to understand the difference between fact and opinion.

  • b1ackbird
    +3

    David Bank, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, said that National Geographic provided Fox with the rights to an unusual collection of material that travels around the world and across digital platforms. He said the National Geographic channels could not only be bundled with Fox’s broader portfolio of sports, news, comedy, drama and other channels, to increase its leverage with TV distributors, but could also be part of a direct-to-consumer streaming offering in the long term.

    Still not feeling great about Fox taking majority here.

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