New Delhi: Finding it difficult to survive in the digital age, 135-year-old Walt Disney-owned National Geographic magazine has fired the last 19 staff writers, media reported.
Employees were informed of his dismissal in April. This is the second layoff in the past nine months and the fourth since the series of ownership changes began in 2015, The Washington Post reported. The company had removed six top editors in September last year as part of cost-cutting measures.
The latest cuts have also eliminated the magazine’s small audio department, the report said.
NatGeo senior writer Craig Welch wrote on Twitter, “My new National Geographic just arrived, including my latest feature – my 16th and my last as a senior writer.”
“NatGeo is laying off all of its staff writers. I’ve been very lucky. I got a chance to work with incredible journalists and tell important, global stories. It is an honour,” he said.
The company said its future editorial work would be handled by freelance writers and the few editors remaining on staff, the Post reported.
A spokesperson for the magazine told CNN in a statement that the print publication with the famous bright yellow border, which had more than 1.7 million subscribers at the end of 2022, will continue to publish the monthly issue.
“The staffing change will not change our ability to do this work, but will give us more flexibility to tell different stories and meet our audiences where they are across our many platforms,” the spokesperson said. “Any suspicion that the recent changes will negatively impact the quality of the magazine, or our storytelling, is absolutely wrong.”
However, in an internal announcement made last month, the company said the magazines would not be sold on newsstands in the US starting next year.
“It’s been an epic race, @NatGeo. NatGeo writer Nina Strochlik wrote on Twitter, “My colleagues and I were incredibly lucky to be in the last category of staff writers—definitely the best job we’ve ever had, and possibly the best we’ve ever had.” One of the good works.