National Geographic Magazine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| National Geographic | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Editor | Chris Johns |
| Categories | Science |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| First Issue | |
| Company | National Geographic Society |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Website | www.ngm.com |
| ISSN | 0027-9358 |
The National Geographic Magazine, later shortened to National Geographic, is the official journal of the National Geographic Society. It published its first issue nine months after the Society was founded. It has become one of the world's best-known magazines and is immediately identifiable by the characteristic yellow border running around the edge of its cover.
There are 12 monthly issues of National Geographic per year, plus additional map supplements. On rare occasions, special editions are also issued. It contains articles about geography, popular science, world history, culture, current events and photography. The current Editor-in-Chief of National Geographic Magazine is the renowned photographer, Chris Johns, who has photographed extensively in Africa. The foreword to Johns' own book on Africa was written by Nelson Mandela.
John Q. Griffin, a Society Executive Vice President and President of the Magazine Group, has overall responsibility for the English language magazines at National Geographic. Terry B. Adamson, a Society Executive Vice President, has overall responsibility for the Society's international publications, the local language editions of the Society's magazines and other publications.
Contents |
[edit] Articles
In later years the once-benign articles became outspoken on issues such as environment, deforestation, global warming, and endangered species - a scope expanded to topics well beyond exploration curiosities. Series of articles were included focusing on the history of specific products such as a single metal, gem, food crop, or agricultural product, or an archeological discovery. Occasionally an entire month's issue would be devoted to a single country, past civilization, natural resource, or other theme. Also in recent decades, the National Geographic Society has unveiled other magazines with different focuses.
During the Cold War, the magazine committed itself to presenting a balanced view of the physical and human geography of nations beyond the Iron Curtain. The magazine printed articles on Berlin, de-occupied Austria, the Soviet Union, and Communist China that deliberately downplayed politics to focus on culture. In its coverage of the Space Race, National Geographic focused on the scientific achievement while largely avoiding reference to the race's connection to nuclear arms buildup.
[edit] Photography
In addition to being well-known for articles about scenery, history, and the most distant corners of the world; the magazine has also long been recognized for its book-like quality and its standard of photography. This standard makes it the home to some of the highest-quality photojournalism in the world. The magazine began to feature color photography in the early 20th century, when this technology was still rare. During the 1930s, Luis Marden (1913-2003), a writer and photographer for National Geographic, convinced the magazine to allow its photographers to use small 35 mm cameras loaded with Kodachrome film over bulkier cameras with tripods and glass plates. In 1959, the magazine started publishing photographs on its covers. National Geographic photography has quickly shifted to digital photography for both its magazine on paper and its award-winning Web site. In subsequent years, the magazine cover, while keeping its yellow border, shed its oak leaf trim and bare table of contents, for a large photograph taken from one of the month's articles inside. National Geographic, more than most other magazines, was often prized and kept by subscribers for years, and sometimes re-sold at thrift stores.
Supplementing the articles, the magazine sometimes provides maps of the regions visited. The Society's map archives have been used by the United States government in instances where its own cartographic resources were limited.[citation needed]President Franklin Roosevelt's White House map room was filled with National Geographic maps. A National Geographic map of Europe is featured in the displays of the Winston Churchhill museum in London showing Churchhill's markings at the Yalta Conference where the Allied and Russian leaders divided post-war Europe. In 2001, National Geographic released an eight-CD-ROM set containing all its maps from 1888 to December 2000.
See also: Red Shirt School of Photography
[edit] Paul Salopek
A two-time Pulitzer prize winning writer on assignment for National Geographic Magazine for a feature article on the Sahel region, Paul Salopek, and two Chadian assistants were arrested and charged in August 2006 with espionage, entering Sudan without a visa, and other crimes by the Government of Sudan. After National Geographic and the Chicago Tribune, for whom Salopek also wrote, mounted a legal defense and led an international appeal to Sudan from such world figures as Jimmy Carter, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Bono, and many prominent journalists and press organizations, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was invited to Sudan by President Omar al-Bashir. In a meeting the night of Richardson's arrival, al-Bashir said he would release Salopek on humanitarian grounds. National Geographic Editor-in-Chief Chris Johns flew with Richardson and others to El Fashir in Northern Darfur where Salopek was jailed. Salopek was released and flew back home with his wife to New Mexico. His two assistants from Chad were also released and returned to their country.
[edit] Sharbat Gula
The famous cover photo of the June 1985 issue was of an Afghan refugee, a beautiful young girl with hauntingly green eyes. The photograph was taken in a small tented schoolroom by National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry in a Peshawar, Pakistan refugee camp. After the US-led invasion of Afghanistan a search was conducted for the (presumably grown) girl. Remarkably, a National Geographic television film crew found her, and she was identified in 2002 as Sharbat Gula, a Pashtun woman married and living with her family, and quite unaware of her fame as a photographic subject. Steve McCurry again photographed Sharbat Gula for the second time in her life. Her story was told in the April 2002 issue of National Geographic and in a National Geographic television documentary. She stated then that the two famous photos of her, the one from 1985 and the follow-up in 2002, were virtually the only times she had ever been photographed. A fund named after Gula was created and originally funded by the Society and contributed to by thousands of readers which resulted in a partnership between National Geographic and the Asia Foundation in the creation of a girls' school in Afghanistan that taught hundreds of teenage girls with both a vocational and basic education, in addition to a hot meal and health care. The funds also contributed to the construction of a public school for girls in Kabul.[citation needed]
[edit] Language editions
In 1995, National Geographic began publishing in Japanese, its first local language edition. The magazine is now published in thirty-two (32) different language editions around the world, including: English on a worldwide basis, Bulgarian, traditional character Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, two Portuguese language editions Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish.
In April 2005, an Indonesian edition launched, published by Gramedia Majalah - Jakarta. A Bulgarian edition of the magazine launched in November, 2005 and a Slovenian edition launched in May, 2006. Pending approval by the government of China for publishing National Geographic in simplified Chinese, National Geographic publishes in association with Trends Publications in Beijing a magazine called "Global Geography." A Serbian edition of National Geographic was launched with the November 2006 issue in partnership with a joint venture of Sanoma and Gruner + Jahr.
In contrast to the United States, where membership in the National Geographic Society was until recently the only way to receive the magazine, the worldwide editions are sold on newsstands in addition to regular subscriptions. In several countries, such as Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, and Turkey, National Geographic paved the way for a subscription model in addition to traditional newsstand sales.
