[LINK] "National Geographic gives Fox control of media assets in $725 million deal"
The Washington Post is one news source of many to cover the news of National Geographic's inclusion in the Rupert Murdoch empire.
On Wednesday, the iconic yellow-bordered magazine, beset by financial issues, entered its own uncharted territory. In an effort to stave off further decline, the magazine was effectively sold by its nonprofit parent organization to a for-profit venture whose principal shareholder is one of Rupert Murdoch’s global media companies.
In exchange for $725 million, the National Geographic Society passed the troubled magazine and its book, map and other media assets to a partnership headed by 21st Century Fox, the Murdoch-controlled company that owns the 20th Century Fox movie studio, the Fox television network and Fox News Channel.
Under the terms announced Wednesday, Fox will control 73 percent of the operation, called National Geographic Partners, with the balance held by the National Geographic Society. The partnership, based in Washington, will include a portfolio of National Geographic-branded cable TV channels, digital properties and publishing operations, most notably the magazine that has advanced the society’s founding mission - “the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge.”
The agreement provides a financial lifeline not just for the much-honored magazine, but also for the National Geographic Society itself, the organization’s chief executive acknowledged Wednesday. Like many print publications, National Geographic has been hurt by the onset of the digital era, which has put it on a slow trajectory toward extinction.
[. . .]
The society first partnered with Fox in 1997 to launch the National Geographic cable channel, and later a fleet of smaller TV channels. The TV channels have grown into the organization’s most valuable assets; the venture had operating profits surpassing $400 million last year, according to one executive, although the society’s actual dividend from the partnership has not been disclosed.
Many have worried that Murdoch might influence the media negatively. What does it mean that Murdoch is a climate-change denier who has just bought a media outlet that has been consistently supportive of climate change and climate science, for instance?
On Wednesday, the iconic yellow-bordered magazine, beset by financial issues, entered its own uncharted territory. In an effort to stave off further decline, the magazine was effectively sold by its nonprofit parent organization to a for-profit venture whose principal shareholder is one of Rupert Murdoch’s global media companies.
In exchange for $725 million, the National Geographic Society passed the troubled magazine and its book, map and other media assets to a partnership headed by 21st Century Fox, the Murdoch-controlled company that owns the 20th Century Fox movie studio, the Fox television network and Fox News Channel.
Under the terms announced Wednesday, Fox will control 73 percent of the operation, called National Geographic Partners, with the balance held by the National Geographic Society. The partnership, based in Washington, will include a portfolio of National Geographic-branded cable TV channels, digital properties and publishing operations, most notably the magazine that has advanced the society’s founding mission - “the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge.”
The agreement provides a financial lifeline not just for the much-honored magazine, but also for the National Geographic Society itself, the organization’s chief executive acknowledged Wednesday. Like many print publications, National Geographic has been hurt by the onset of the digital era, which has put it on a slow trajectory toward extinction.
[. . .]
The society first partnered with Fox in 1997 to launch the National Geographic cable channel, and later a fleet of smaller TV channels. The TV channels have grown into the organization’s most valuable assets; the venture had operating profits surpassing $400 million last year, according to one executive, although the society’s actual dividend from the partnership has not been disclosed.
Many have worried that Murdoch might influence the media negatively. What does it mean that Murdoch is a climate-change denier who has just bought a media outlet that has been consistently supportive of climate change and climate science, for instance?