The home of vicarious adventures is changing, for better and worse

Since taking over as editor in chief of National

Geographic in 2014, Susan Goldberg has achieved a great deal, including winning the Exceptional Woman in Publishing Award in 2015 and a picking up a Pulitzer Prize shortlisting for the magazine’s January 2017 issue on gender issues, which hit news stands across America and much of the rest of the world just as a certain Donald J Trump was preparing to enter the White House.

She isn’t sitting on her laurels either: her admirable commitment to using the magazine to tackle social issues as well as environmental ones (something the publication has been doing for decades) has been in evidence again in recent months. The lead feature in the May 2018 edition is headlined “Being Muslim in America” and sets out to paint a portrait of “a vibrant and increasingly visible part of the nation’s tapestry.” Similarly, April’s edition was a special issue on race, with a lead feature that set out to demonstrate that “there is no genetic or scientific basis for race” and that it is “a largely made-up label, used to define and separate us.” There was a bold intro to the April edition, too, penned by Goldberg and headed “To rise above the racism of the past, we must acknowledge it,” in which she went into detail about the myriad ways in which National Geographic’s journalism has been racist since it was founded in 1888, from the 1916 story that described Australian Aboriginals as ranking “lowest in intelligence of all human beings” to recurring photographic tropes like “the native person fascinated by Western technology”.

Clearly it’s good news for all of us if the person running a magazine that has the global reach of National

Geographic, (total print circulation still hovering near the 6 million mark) is attempting to use that platform to make the world a better, more tolerant place – particularly when the controlling interest in said magazine is held by 21st Century Fox, the company behind, among other things, “fair and balanced” Fox News. However, as a long-time subscriber to Natgeo, I’ve noticed that, while Goldberg is big on stories on social issues, she’s not so enthusiastic about something the magazine used to specialise in: namely, good, old-fashioned expedition stories, in which reporters and photographers risk life and limb to shine a light on some inaccessible corner of the globe.

So far this year, it’s been possible to count proper, full-blown expedition stories in National Geographic on the fingers of one hand. In January, Tim Folger reported from the vanishing sea ice of the Arctic Ocean, in February Paul Nicklen went swimming with Gentoo penguins and Peale’s dolphins off the Falkland Islands and in the May edition Laurent Ballesta went to French Polynesia to photograph grey reef sharks feasting on breeding groupers. And, unless I’m missing something, that’s it so far for 2018, although perhaps when the June edition lands on my doormat there will be something further. If I were, say, the advertising executive at Rolex who had purchased a very expensive ad on pages two and three of the 100 per cent expedition-free April magazine (“For almost a century, Rolex watches have travelled alongside the world’s most renowned pioneers and explorers...”) I might be wondering if my budget might perhaps be better spent elsewhere – for example, in a magazine that featured pioneers and explorers.

Goldberg’s predecessor as editor in chief at National Geographic, from January 2005 to April 2014, was Chris Johns. Previously a photographer, he produced more than 20 articles for the magazine before taking over the hot seat, primarily focusing on Africa – its endangered wildlife and the Bushmen’s struggle to preserve their culture. Unsurprisingly, given his background, he wasn’t afraid to publish a good expedition story, even if there was no real science behind it. Take, for example, Freddie Wilkinson and Cory Richards’ “Untamed Antarctica” feature of September 2013, in which climber Mike Libecki and his team made two first ascents in the remote Wohlthat Mountains in spite of winds so strong they lost two tents along the way. A fantastic yarn, in a year when Natgeo was proudly “Celebrating 125 Years of Exploration” on its front cover each month – but it’s hard to imagine something like that appearing on Goldberg’s watch.

All of which leaves subscribers who enjoy expedition stories with a dilemma: stick with Natgeo in the hope that tales of derring-do might make at least a modest comeback, or start to look elsewhere for vicarious adventures.

This year it’s been possible to count fullblown expedition stories in National Geographic on the fingers of one hand