The Washington Post reports that National Geographic has gotten rid of the last of its remaining magazine staff writers, with the magazine that belongs to The Walt Disney Company who effectively fired the final 19 editorial staffers who were still employed with permanent positions.
The 19 staffers were told in April that they are out of and losing their jobs. Article assignments and writers will be commissioned as freelance writers, or articles will be cobbled together by editors - work that used to take months.
According to the staffers who are leaving, National Geographic also cut back on the photography and photographer contracts which made it possible for photographers to spend months in the field to capture the iconic images that the National Geographic magazine was known for over 135 years.
The yellow-framed National Geographic magazine will also no longer be sold on newsstands in the United States from 2024.
According to the report, also out the door is Debra Adams Simmons, who in September 2022 was promoted to vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion at National Geographic Media, which is the entity that oversees the magazine and website.
Besides the magazine, Disney owns and runs the National Geographic and Nat Geo WILD TV channels, which are carried on MultiChoice's DStv and StarTimes Media SA's StarSat pay-TV services in South Africa.
Chris Albert, National Geographic spokesperson, told The Washington Post that getting rid of the last remaining staff will not affect National Geographic's plans to continue to publish a monthly magazine "but rather give us more flexibility to tell different stories and meet our audiences where they are across our many platforms".
