National Geographic Society
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The National Geographic Society is a scientific (debatable) and educational organization originally founded in 1888 as an explorer's club. Around the world, it is mostly known for and/or conflated with the National Geographic Magazine, which is run by the society's media arm National Geographic Partners (a joint venture with The Walt Disney Company).
The mag with the yellow border[edit]
The magazine itself was originally a text-only publication, similar to a scientific journal, but after the first decade of the 20th century it became increasingly known for its photographic illustrations from all over the world. Among the youth in the uptight USA of the 1950s, it also became hilariously notorious for its (un)coverage of various indigenous peoples' naughty bits, earning the magazine a dubious reputation of being the poor immature kid's Playboy.
“”When I was an adolescent, the only reliable source of breast visuals was National Geographic, a magazine then devoted, as far as I can tell, to doing feature articles on every primitive tribe in the world in which the women went around topless.
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| —Dave Barry |
On top of nudity concerns, the magazine's coverage of indigenous peoples has also been subject to scrutiny even from the Society themselves, particularly in the April 2018 issue where they talked about race and racism, discussing and making a scathing self-critique of how they treated tribes and people of colour in what amounts to an article-length apology[1] in time for the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination.[2] Of particular note is a passage from a 1916 issue of the Magazine describing Aboriginal Australians as “South Australian Blackfellows: These savages rank lowest in intelligence of all human beings.”[1] NatGeo's coverage of other ethnicities was for the first half of the 20th century filled to the brim of exoticism verging on racist belittlement and elitism, depicting Westerners as forward-thinking and advanced compared to the relatively backwards lifestyles of other cultures, or at least from their perspective.[3]
National Geographic Channel[edit]
Or simply Nat Geo, this channel is a joint effort between National Geographic Television and Film (known for their many, many, many documentaries seen in IMAX theaters) and Fox Cable Networks. Originally created to show documentaries of nature and the ever-changing world, they appear to have succumbed to the 75% interest of controlling stake by the subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and now spend quite a bit of airtime sucking on the teat of reality programming (which is not the same as reality programming) with shows like Alaska State Troopers, Fight Science, Pricing the Priceless, and numerous programs dedicated to the search for evidence of Biblical figures. Also aired with some frequency are cryptozoology and UFO programs, nearly without exception from an infuriatingly credulous angle.[citation needed] Even worse are the shows that falsely claim psychics have helped the FBI and other law enforcement agencies solve murders.[citation needed] They also promote alternative medicine, showing thinly veiled advertisements for traditional Chinese quackery.
The success of the channel has spawned numerous other channels such as Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Junior and others.
Programmes[edit]
Good[edit]
- Is It Real? (2005-2007)
- Sceptically examined many of the "usual suspects" such as UFOs, ghosts, Nostradamus, alternative medicine, etc. as well as some other topics such as King Arthur and vampires. This is probably the best sceptical TV show so far; all episodes are quite good. The typical format is that various cranks are allowed to explain their view and make their case, which is then critically examined by various sceptics.
- Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014)
- Neil deGrasse Tyson's reboot of Carl Sagan's Cosmos.
Dubious[edit]
- Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan (2004-2012)
- For a number of years, Nat Geo's most popular show. Cesar Millan is shown helping dog owners with problematic dogs, though the owners are often the issue. Millan's methods have been described as simplistic and one-dimensional.[citation needed] Millan also promotes using homeopathy and acupuncture on dogs.
Crap[edit]
- Naked Science (2004-2011)
- Features both real science and pseudoscience.
External links[edit]
- The National Geographic website
- Ah! they do goats as well!