National Geographic is dead, long live ????? what?

November 11, 2015 5:33 PM

My highly intelligent 10 year old loves national Geo. I am afraid it is over with Murdoch buying it. I hesitate to re-up for another year to find out. Knowing what it did for me when I was growing up (11th grade vocab by 6th grade), I'd like to find something to replace it. Her main interests in NatGeo are articles about animals, indigenous peoples, mostly nature rather than hard science. Any suggestions?
posted by rudd135 to Science & Nature (18 answers total)

The Smithsonian Magazine.
posted by Ostara at 5:41 PM on November 11, 2015 [9 favorites]

Audubon, maybe?
posted by three_red_balloons at 5:50 PM on November 11, 2015 [2 favorites]

Nautilus
Publishes in print, and updates daily online.
It's rather new, and received some impressive awards.
It connects sciences to philosophy, culture and art.

Too advanced, challenging?
posted by artdrectr at 6:06 PM on November 11, 2015 [4 favorites]

Nature Conservancy Magazine
posted by release the hardwoods! at 6:09 PM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

Smithsonian was my first thought as well.
posted by kevinbelt at 6:25 PM on November 11, 2015

Response by poster: Should have clarified, we are already getting Smithsonian and Natural History.
posted by rudd135 at 6:42 PM on November 11, 2015

Geographical Magazine
posted by unliteral at 7:10 PM on November 11, 2015

Used bookstores (and especially library-based used bookstores) often have one million old National Geographic maps for almost nothing, like ten cents or less - I learned SO MUCH about the world from the maps that I still retain.
posted by mdonley at 7:15 PM on November 11, 2015

Listen, it isn't ruined already, and the best chance for it not to be is to continue your subscription. If subscriptions drop just because it became a Murdoch group pub, that'll be their excuse to "do a turnaround." Hang in there for now. It's got a strong editorial structure and there's at least some chance it won't shift much.
posted by Miko at 8:15 PM on November 11, 2015 [12 favorites]

Yeah, I'm not canceling my subscription until it actually gets bad. I'm trying to be optimistic.

That said, American Scientist is a really great magazine.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 8:22 PM on November 11, 2015

Actually they went through and fired about 9% of the staff already .
posted by ladyriffraff at 8:23 PM on November 11, 2015 [2 favorites]

Most in the photo department. It's certainly concerning, but I'd still wait and see.

As far as other magazines, yes to Smithsonian, and also Archaeology (a lot more wide-ranging and accessible than it may sound). For cultural content about travel, I like Afar, and for global food culture, Saveur.
posted by Miko at 8:27 PM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

Is there any reason you can't find old copies of National Geo? I grew up with a collection that started in 1965 and - other than a few old adverts for cars and the like, and some stuff relating to Vietnam - most of the sciency-stuff is still reasonably solid. A lot of folks (like my parents) ended up collecting them and then need to get rid of kilo's and kilo's of old magazines.

We ended up giving some of the old ones to a local primary school to cut up and the rest went into the recycling, which was a bit sad.
posted by ninazer0 at 9:36 PM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm guessing it won't change that much, at least not while your kid is still a kid. Murdoch probably doesn't care about it beyond it making money. (He lets The Simpsons take shots at Fox News and stuff. He's a cash-based lifeform, first and foremost.) I can understand boycotting it because you don't want to put one more dime in his pocket, but if you're OK with the mag now I'd say stick with it and watch for signs of cruddification.

The Nat Geo channel is still OK, so far. It hasn't become climate change-denial propaganda, Alaskan rednecks and BS about ghosts.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:27 AM on November 12, 2015 [2 favorites]

When I was a kid, my father also "had a subscription to Nat Geo". In reality there were boxes in my grandfathers garage full of the Nat Geo magazines my dad read through his youth, and we just "got" a new on each week.
posted by shenkerism at 8:19 AM on November 12, 2015

NG has become markedly more liberal in recent years, covering environmental and climate crises, inequality, and war zones. It's hard to believe they would switch to the opposite, e.g., "THE PYRAMIDS WERE JOSEPH'S GRANARIES!!!" "GLOBAL WARMING IS A HOAX!!!" But they might revert to more anodyne feel-good tourist coverage.
posted by bad grammar at 5:43 PM on November 12, 2015

My friend works there. Yes, they are laying people off, but she is telling everyone not to freak out. There are layers and layers of separation between NatGeo and Fox News, they bought the brand because they want the brand, and almost all of the senior leadership is staying in place.

I love the idea of the old issues though too - it's like history and science rolled in one.
posted by oryelle at 7:04 PM on November 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

Some of the old issues definitely have a serious problem with exoticizing local cultures. Exposing the kid to yesteryear's attitudes about the environment and other communities isn't a good alternative. I wish I had an idea for you!
posted by salvia at 8:52 PM on November 12, 2015