National Geographic

Society~ A Situational Analysis ~

Aditi Verma

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Andrew Jaden

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Eleanor-Jacinta

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Hannah Hanif

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Venice Min

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Aiman Putra

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Group Members:

• Aim is to inspire people to ‘care about their planet’.

• Areas of interest are geography, archaeology, natural science along with the promotion of environmental and historical conservation as well as the study of world culture and history.

• Got a variety of magazines, documentaries, videos, one channel and one expanding website.

• One of the largest, non-profit scientific and educational institution in the world.

National Geographic Society

BRIEF BACKGROUND NGS Founded: January 13, 1888,

Washington D.C. By group of eminent citizens who

wished to promote geographic research as well as the popular distribution of the results of such research.

Gardiner Greene Hubbard – First Society President.

The NGS began with publishing magazines and its first issue titled ‘National Geographic’ appeared in October and was sent to 200 charter members. It was published occasionally until monthly publication began in January 1896.

In 1897, Alexander Graham Bell took the helm. He wanted Changes: In editorial policy to make

popular, and a full-time editor required. In 1899, Gilbert H. Grosvenor accepted the

editorship offer from Bell.

Changes by Grosvenor: Stylistic changes for the magazine,

including eliminating academic jargon, keeping sentences short and punchy, replacing scholarly formality and detachment with engaging first-person narrative, and most significantly, introducing photographs, gaining 11,000 regular subscribers by 1906.

NGS also began its sponsorship of high-profile exploratory, archaeological, and naturalistic expeditions, for example – It contributed $1,000 to the Arctic expedition led by Commander Robert E. Peary in 1906 who then became the first documented explorer to reach the North Pole in 1909.

By the mid-1990s, the Society had sold more than four million home videos. It later signed an agreement with cable station WTBS to produce a weekly documentary series, National Geographic Explorer.

Entering 21st Century: Three magazines, programs for television and home video, an expanding web site, and two freestanding retail stores in Washington, D.C., along with a new cable, a new magazine and international television channels under development.

National Geographic Channel: Launched in 1997 (UK,EU and AUS)

2001 - US joint with Fox Cable Networks

Then National Geographic Channel HD was launched in US January 2006.

Come a long way since 1888 with 1 magazine to world’s popular and reliable source of information.

NatGeo 1st Issue Text orientated, articles written in dry, academic style and no illustration.

Alexander Graham Bell needed a change in the editorial policy.

These changes influenced by economic and social factors : to improve the bad financial situation and to up its popularity in society. Articles were made readable without losing

educational value Photographs were introduced into the magazine. Used for Impact they can give Began the era of photojournalism

Great Depression Move towards television due to decreased readership

(economic factor) Signing with WTBS

National Geographic Explorer (technological factor)

1990s : Collaborated with Lucasfilm and Apple Computer (technological factor) Multimedia packaged “GTV” Used in middle school and includes interactive

lessons on U.S. History. National Geographic Channel (technological and

social factor) Launched in UK,Europe and Australia (Sept 1997) Asia (July 1998) United States (Jan 2001) Audience awareness in U.S. needed a lot of work due

to competitor Discovery Channel

National Geographic Television and Film (2003) Mix results Large formats IMAX films were introduced and was

successful. NatGeo had to generate new content without losing

educational value Targets younger generations to create awareness

By 2006 , National Geographic Foreign publishing partners began mixing local

interest articles Aspects transitioned from bring the world to America

and vice versa

Thus changes influenced by: Economy Techonology Society – changes in trends Competition from others

The Old:

• National Geographic embodies a wide range of traits and ideals, from old to new.

• Helped to sponsor popular traveling exhibits such as the "King Tut" exhibit featuring magnificent artifacts from the tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh, which toured in several American cities, ending its U.S. showing at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

• Another National Geographic exhibit called ‘The Cultural Treasures of Afghanistan’ opened at the National Gallery of Art in Washington in May 2008; travelled around the US for next 18 months.

• They stopped photo journalism for the time being after Kodak stopped producing Kodachrome film, in which some of National Geographic’s most memorable pictures were captured.

Interpretation

The New: Back in 2010, they introduced the National Geographic

Interactional Edition to the iPad, which allowed them to connect with an entirely new generation – our generation.

They have also thrown in their support for the various fields of modern science – cryptozoology, anthropology and archaeology; in fact, NG’s CEO, John Fahey states that National Geographic tries to only take a position on issues backed by strong scientific support, such as global warming, a topic that’s received much coverage in the magazine.

The magazine also covered the Human Genome Project in 2007, which tries to determine the origins and path of human migration.

NG is very supportive of geology and exploration worldwide, as evidenced by their two awards – the Hubbard and Alexander Graham Bell medal, both given to distinguished contributors of exploration and geology respectively.

National Geographic has also helped sponsor numerous research projects over the years, with examples being:

Jacques-Yves Cousteau - Undersea exploration Xu Xing - Discovery of fossil dinosaurs in China with

distinct feathers Spencer Wells - The Genographic Project Robert Ballard - RMS Titanic (1985) and John F.

Kennedy's PT-109 (2002) discovery

National Geographic also sponsors the National Geographic Bee, an annual geographic contest for American middle-school students, as well as an international geography competition every two years.

CONCLUSION National Geographic is living up to its

motto to inspire people to care for their planet.

Has evolved greatly over the years, and has a positive impact on society with its contributions.

A commendable Media Organization.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_geographic (Wikipedia) http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/image-collection/

#/history_of_photography/ (History of Photography website-National Geographic)

http://theadventureblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/national-geographic-comes-to-ipad.html (Blog)

http://www.lb9.uscourts.gov/webcites/10documents/Spencer_NatGeo.pdf (Article)

http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/31/National-Geographic-Society.html (Reference for Business Website)

http://www2.mccombs.utexas.edu/news/pressreleases/fahey07.asp (News story)

Poole, Robert M. (2004). Explorers House: National Geographic and the World it Made. New York: Penguin (e-book)

www.nationalgeographic.com (Official website – National Geographic)

THANK YOU