Tag: National Geographic

  • National Geographic will end newsstand sales of magazine next year, focus on subscriptions, digital

    By Associated Press

    NEW YORK: The familiar yellow-bordered cover of the monthly National Geographic will no longer be for sale on newsstands starting next year, part of cutbacks affecting the venerable magazine.

    The company’s focus is turning to its digital product and it will offer special editions on newsstands, a spokesman said on Thursday. Subscribers will still get a printed copy each month.

    Newsstand sales account for a small percentage of the magazine’s monthly circulation of just below 1.8 million copies, the magazine said.

    Even a magazine that started publishing in 1888 isn’t immune to financial headwinds affecting the media. Known best for its colourful photography from 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 the Walt Disney Corp. in 2019. It has been hit by a series of layoffs.

    Craig Welch posted on Twitter on Wednesday that his new issue of the magazine just arrived, featuring his 16th and last feature as a senior writer for the magazine.

    “NatGeo is laying off all of its staff writers,” he wrote.

    The magazine said while it’s accurate it no longer has anyone with the title of “writer” anymore, it has people who both write and edit. Instead, it will turn to non-staffers to author stories. The changes occurred as a result of a reorganization in April.

    The company would not discuss how many people lost their jobs.

    “National Geographic will continue to publish a monthly magazine that is dedicated to exceptional multi-platform storytelling with cultural impact,” spokesman Chris Albert 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,” he said.

    NEW YORK: The familiar yellow-bordered cover of the monthly National Geographic will no longer be for sale on newsstands starting next year, part of cutbacks affecting the venerable magazine.

    The company’s focus is turning to its digital product and it will offer special editions on newsstands, a spokesman said on Thursday. Subscribers will still get a printed copy each month.

    Newsstand sales account for a small percentage of the magazine’s monthly circulation of just below 1.8 million copies, the magazine said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Even a magazine that started publishing in 1888 isn’t immune to financial headwinds affecting the media. Known best for its colourful photography from 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 the Walt Disney Corp. in 2019. It has been hit by a series of layoffs.

    Craig Welch posted on Twitter on Wednesday that his new issue of the magazine just arrived, featuring his 16th and last feature as a senior writer for the magazine.

    “NatGeo is laying off all of its staff writers,” he wrote.

    The magazine said while it’s accurate it no longer has anyone with the title of “writer” anymore, it has people who both write and edit. Instead, it will turn to non-staffers to author stories. The changes occurred as a result of a reorganization in April.

    The company would not discuss how many people lost their jobs.

    “National Geographic will continue to publish a monthly magazine that is dedicated to exceptional multi-platform storytelling with cultural impact,” spokesman Chris Albert 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,” he said.

  • ‘Forgotten’ Afghan stories highlighted in two new films from Netflix, Nat Geo

    By AFP

    LOS ANGELES: The world’s focus has shifted to the war in Ukraine, but two major new documentaries aim to throw the spotlight back on Afghanistan, and the people left behind by the United States’ rapid withdrawal last year.

    National Geographic’s “Retrograde” follows an Afghan general who tried in vain to hold back the Taliban advance in 2021, while Netflix’s “In Her Hands” tells the story of the country’s youngest woman mayor, who had to flee as the Islamists took over.

    “We’ve forgotten about this story — when was the last time we discussed the war in Afghanistan, or read an article about it?” said “Retrograde” director Matthew Heineman.

    “Obviously there’s still some coverage of it, but… not that many people are talking about this country that we left behind.”

    Zarifa Ghafari, the former mayor spotlighted by “In Her Hands,” told AFP that back under the Taliban, Afghanistan is “the only country around the world nowadays where a woman can sell their body, their children, anything else, but are not able to go to school.”

    But at international political meetings, “Afghanistan is out of those discussions.”

    Both movies begin in the months before the US withdrawal, as their subjects tried to build a safer and more egalitarian future for their country.

    The two films end with their central characters forced to watch from abroad as the Taliban rapidly erases all their work.

    “Retrograde” began as a documentary with rare inside access to US special forces.

    In one early scene, US troops are shown having to destroy — or retrograde — their equipment and wastefully fire off excess ammunition that was sorely needed by their Afghan allies.

    After the Americans left their base in Helmand, Afghan general Sami Sadat agreed to let Heineman’s cameras stay and follow him, as he took charge of the ultimately doomed effort to stave off Taliban advances.

    In one scene, Sadat — stubbornly determined to rally his men to fight on as the situation crumbles around them — chides his aide for bringing to his war office persistent reports of nearby Afghan troops downing their weapons.

    “Every neon sign was saying ‘stop, give up, this is over,’ and he had this blind faith that maybe, just maybe, if he held on to Lashkar Gah or Helmand, that they could beat back the Taliban,” recalled Heineman.

    Sadat eventually had to flee, and the filmmakers shifted their lens again, to desperate scenes at Kabul airport as Afghans fought for spaces on the last American planes out.

    “It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever witnessed in my career,” added Heineman, who was nominated for an Oscar for 2015’s “Cartel Land.”

    “Discussions around wars in public policy and foreign policy, they’re often talked about and discussed without the human element,” said the director.

    “One of the things I’ve tried to do throughout my career is take these large, amorphous subjects and put a human face to them.”

    ‘Murder’Former mayor Ghafari had survived assassination attempts and seen her father gunned down by the Taliban before she too left Afghanistan as the Islamists moved in.

    “Talking about that moment, I’m still not able to stop crying… it was something that I really never wanted to do,” said Ghafari, who drew the Taliban’s ire by campaigning for girls’ education after being appointed mayor of Maidan Shahr aged 24.

    “I had some personal responsibilities, especially after the murder of my dad… to help secure my family.”

    The directors of “In Her Hands,” which counts Hillary Clinton among its executive producers, returned to Afghanistan and filmed Ghafari’s former driver Massoum, now unemployed and living under the Taliban.

    In unsettling scenes, he is seen bonding with the same fighters who once attacked the car in which he was driving Ghafari.

    “The story of Massoum represents the story of all Afghanistan’s crisis… why people are feeling betrayed,” said Ghafari.

    ‘Share their pain’

    Though the conflicts in Afghanistan and Ukraine are vastly different in nature, both films offer a cautionary tale about what can happen once the West’s focus shifts.

    “Obviously, that’s happened throughout history, and will continue to happen long into the future. And so what can we learn from this experience?” said Heineman.

    Ghafari said: “Whatever happens in Ukraine and happened in Ukraine, it’s the same thing that we have been going through for like 60 years.

    “The same thing, again and again. So we share their pain.”

    LOS ANGELES: The world’s focus has shifted to the war in Ukraine, but two major new documentaries aim to throw the spotlight back on Afghanistan, and the people left behind by the United States’ rapid withdrawal last year.

    National Geographic’s “Retrograde” follows an Afghan general who tried in vain to hold back the Taliban advance in 2021, while Netflix’s “In Her Hands” tells the story of the country’s youngest woman mayor, who had to flee as the Islamists took over.

    “We’ve forgotten about this story — when was the last time we discussed the war in Afghanistan, or read an article about it?” said “Retrograde” director Matthew Heineman.

    “Obviously there’s still some coverage of it, but… not that many people are talking about this country that we left behind.”

    Zarifa Ghafari, the former mayor spotlighted by “In Her Hands,” told AFP that back under the Taliban, Afghanistan is “the only country around the world nowadays where a woman can sell their body, their children, anything else, but are not able to go to school.”

    But at international political meetings, “Afghanistan is out of those discussions.”

    Both movies begin in the months before the US withdrawal, as their subjects tried to build a safer and more egalitarian future for their country.

    The two films end with their central characters forced to watch from abroad as the Taliban rapidly erases all their work.

    “Retrograde” began as a documentary with rare inside access to US special forces.

    In one early scene, US troops are shown having to destroy — or retrograde — their equipment and wastefully fire off excess ammunition that was sorely needed by their Afghan allies.

    After the Americans left their base in Helmand, Afghan general Sami Sadat agreed to let Heineman’s cameras stay and follow him, as he took charge of the ultimately doomed effort to stave off Taliban advances.

    In one scene, Sadat — stubbornly determined to rally his men to fight on as the situation crumbles around them — chides his aide for bringing to his war office persistent reports of nearby Afghan troops downing their weapons.

    “Every neon sign was saying ‘stop, give up, this is over,’ and he had this blind faith that maybe, just maybe, if he held on to Lashkar Gah or Helmand, that they could beat back the Taliban,” recalled Heineman.

    Sadat eventually had to flee, and the filmmakers shifted their lens again, to desperate scenes at Kabul airport as Afghans fought for spaces on the last American planes out.

    “It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever witnessed in my career,” added Heineman, who was nominated for an Oscar for 2015’s “Cartel Land.”

    “Discussions around wars in public policy and foreign policy, they’re often talked about and discussed without the human element,” said the director.

    “One of the things I’ve tried to do throughout my career is take these large, amorphous subjects and put a human face to them.”

    ‘Murder’
    Former mayor Ghafari had survived assassination attempts and seen her father gunned down by the Taliban before she too left Afghanistan as the Islamists moved in.

    “Talking about that moment, I’m still not able to stop crying… it was something that I really never wanted to do,” said Ghafari, who drew the Taliban’s ire by campaigning for girls’ education after being appointed mayor of Maidan Shahr aged 24.

    “I had some personal responsibilities, especially after the murder of my dad… to help secure my family.”

    The directors of “In Her Hands,” which counts Hillary Clinton among its executive producers, returned to Afghanistan and filmed Ghafari’s former driver Massoum, now unemployed and living under the Taliban.

    In unsettling scenes, he is seen bonding with the same fighters who once attacked the car in which he was driving Ghafari.

    “The story of Massoum represents the story of all Afghanistan’s crisis… why people are feeling betrayed,” said Ghafari.

    ‘Share their pain’

    Though the conflicts in Afghanistan and Ukraine are vastly different in nature, both films offer a cautionary tale about what can happen once the West’s focus shifts.

    “Obviously, that’s happened throughout history, and will continue to happen long into the future. And so what can we learn from this experience?” said Heineman.

    Ghafari said: “Whatever happens in Ukraine and happened in Ukraine, it’s the same thing that we have been going through for like 60 years.

    “The same thing, again and again. So we share their pain.”

  • Held in Nepal for ‘carrying printouts of USD notes’, Bengal photographer waits for relief

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: A trip to Nepal has turned into a nightmare for a photographer from West Bengal as he ended up in prison for allegedly carrying jpeg image printouts of USD 100 notes, which he would have “needed there for shooting a short film”.

    Alone and helpless in Nepal, Durlav Roy Chowdhury (24), a resident of Salkia in West Bengal’s Howrah district, had been waiting for assistance from India since November.

    Speaking to PTI over phone from ward number 2 of Jhapa Karagaar in Nepal, Roy Chowdhury said that court hearing of his case is scheduled on May 25, and he was hoping to get reprieve as “I have not done anything illegal”.

    Eshor Raj Poudel, the consul general of Nepal in Kolkata, when approached by PTI, said he had no information about the case.

    “I will explore this and talk to the authorities and the district magistrate of Jhapa. As this is a legal matter, we need to see the evidence. But I can assure that all support would be rendered to the family of the man under trial,” Poudel stated.

    The photographer, who identifies himself as a contributor of National Geographic on his Linkedin page, claimed that he was being denied basic facilities in the jail.

    He also said that he was subjected to “torture” for 20 days since his arrest on November 24 before being produced before a court which then sent him to judicial custody.

    “I started my journey last November. At every checkpoint, I had showed security personnel the printouts of the USD bills that I had with me for the shoot. They allowed me to get through. At the Chandragadi Airport, however, authorities sent me to an office and I was subsequently detained,” he maintained.

    Roy Chowdhury said he was carrying around 230 pieces of prop USD notes, which, “in no way, matched with actual currency when forensic tests were conducted”, the report of which he shared with PTI.

    “I had planned to throw them in the air and shoot a sequence for my film ‘Money Isn’t Everything’. I had never thought that I would be charged with ‘Mudra Sambandhi Kasoor’ (offence related to currency) for it in Nepal,” he said.

    “I have been treated like an animal by Nepalese Police. They didn’t allow me to call my mother in India for weeks or share my ordeal with anyone else. For the first few weeks, I was not given my inhaler. My health deteriorated and only then they showed mercy,” he said.

    The 24-year-old also rued that language has been a major barrier.

    “I don’t know Nepalese and none of the jail officials speak English. I gave them all details and documents, but they didn’t understand. They made me sign papers that I couldn’t read or understand,” Roy Chowdhury, who lost his father in 2015, said.

    He claimed that the Indian Embassy in Nepal has been of little help to him.

    “I keep calling the Indian Embassy here every day but the officials there maintain they won’t be able to do much for me. The only thing they helped me with is a lawyer,” the photographer stated.

    His mother, Tripti Roy Chowdhury, a cancer patient, said she had been running from pillar to post to secure freedom for his son over the past few months.

    She said that she came to know about her son’s imprisonment only in January.

    “I spent days trying to locate him. In January, when I came to know of his ordeal, I was shocked,” the 63-year-old woman, who visited her son in March, said.

    She said that her attempts to reach out to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yielded no result thus far.

    Roy Chowdhury’s mother, who is also in Nepal at present for the court hearing, said she would appeal to the judge for the release of her son, “who is suffering in jail for no valid reason”.

    “I also want plead to the chief minister for help. I’m a cancer patient and have no one to turn to other than my son. I believe the CM will sympathise with my situation,” she added.

  • National Geographic to showcase 10 environmental changemakers from across India

    By IANS

    MUMBAI: The National Geographic on Tuesday announced to showcase a series of short films, spotlighting 10 individuals from across India, who are taking significant steps towards planet conservation and restoration starting from Earth Day, April 22.Termed an “impact-driven” campaign, the ‘One For Change’ series of short films, was launched by Dia Mirza, actor and UN Environment’s Goodwill Ambassador for India, and Kevin Vaz, head, Network Entertainment Disney Star, along with some of the changemakers.Earth Day 2022 is celebrated on April 22 every year. This year’s theme is ‘Invest In Our Planet’.The 10 changemakers selected to be featured are: Bengaluru’s Vani Murthy, popular as worm queen of India, known as the composting crusader of the country; Purnima Burman Devi, the leader of the Hargila Army, working towards the protection of endangered Greater Adjutant Stork in Assam; Tejas Sidnal, founder of Carbon Craft Design, capturing carbon pollution and converting it into carbon tiles; Venkatesh Charloo, pioneering marine conservationist who is helping in coral restoration in Goa; Delhi’s Vidyut Mohan, a 2020 UNEP global changemaker & founder of Takachar that is converting waste farm residue into activated carbon; Varsha Raikwar, a young climate change radio reporter from Bundelkhand, who raise awareness around environment and cleanliness and climate change for rural areas.

    Besides, Rukmani Katara, CEO of Durga Energy that is igniting a renewable energy revolution in rural India in Rajasthan; Poonam & Aditya Singh, a couple who are rewilding the private land on the outskirts of the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve; Thulasi Gowda, the 83-year-old known for being an old living encyclopedia of the trees and herbs of north Karnataka and Sonam Wangchuk, engineer and innovator, who is the founding director of the Student’s Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL)have also been selected.During interaction with the changemakers, Mirza said: “1.3 billion people. Imagine, if each one of us took at least one action, imagine the kind of difference we would make. All you need is one resolute mind”.”If we can actually make people think that if these individuals can do, we can do too, I think our job is done,” Vaz said.He also said that NatGeo plans to feature 30 such people over the year but starting with these 10 on Earth Day.

  • Limited series on Anne Frank family’s protector Miep Gies ordered by Disney+

    By Express News Service

    Disney+ has ordered a scripted National Geographic limited series about the Dutch woman who risked her life to shelter Anne Frank’s family from the Nazis for more than two years and then preserved Anne’s diary.

    Titled A Small Light, the project is produced by Grey’s Anatomy alums Joan Rater and Tony Phelan, Susanna Fogel, ABC Signature and Keshet Studios.

    Written by Rater and Phelan, the story follows the twenty-something Miep Gies, who din’t hesitate even for a moment when her boss Otto Frank came to her and asked her to hide his family from the Nazis during World War II.  For the next two years, Miep, her husband Jan, and the other helpers watched over the eight souls (Otto Frank, his wife Edith and daughters Anne and Margot as well as four others) in hiding in the Secret Annex. And it was Miep who found Anne’s Diary and kept it safe so Otto, the only one of the eight who survived, could later share it with the world as one of the most powerful accounts of the Holocaust.

    Gies died in 2010 at the age of 100. The title of the series is inspired from something Gies said late in her life: “I don’t like being called a hero because no one should ever think you have to be special to help others. Even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can turn on a small light in a dark room.”

    A Small Light is produced by ABC Signature in partnership with Keshet Studios. Rater, Phelan and Fogel executive produce alongside Keshet Studios’ Peter Traugott, Keshet International’s Alon Shtruzman and Keshet Media Group’s Avi Nir.

    Casting for the seven-episode series is currently underway. Filming is slated to begin in Europe in the upcoming months. Notably, the project marks the second Nat Geo scripted series for Disney+ after The Right Stuff.