When 21st Century Fox bought control of National Geographic in early September, turning the magazine into a for-profit venture for the first time in its 127-year history, there was widespread concern from many who felt that the new owner, Rupert Murdoch, might interfere with the organization's environmental mission.
"Years is switching from Showtime, where it originally aired, to the National Geographic channel. NatGeo has many more viewers than Showtime — a larger audience! — but it's also owned by Fox, which itself is owned by the climate-change denier Rupert Murdoch," Meyer wrote. But when Meyer asked Years' executive producer, David Gelber, about the future of the doc, it was a different story:
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Robinson Meyer: I saw the new season is coming out on National Geographic. Was that before the Murdoch purchase was announced?David Gelber: Oh yeah, it's been in the works for about a year.Meyer: Have you heard anything about the new ownership?Gelber: Well, you know, Fox has owned NatGeo for a while. It's owned the channel for a while. I think the most recent deal has to do with other National Geographic properties. But we were really impressed with what NatGeo did last year, and Fox did run it as well, with Cosmos, the Neil deGrasse Tyson show. Which did a whole hour on climate change, and it was a terrific hour. So we're not particularly concerned about editorial interference. I think we're feeling very comfortable with being on a platform that's so much bigger than the one we were on last time. [The Atlantic]
Here's hoping that despite a new owner, we'll still get the same NatGeo we know and love.
-
September 1 editorial cartoonsCartoons Monday’s political cartoons include Labor Day picnic, branding strategy, and more
-
What is Tony Blair's plan for Gaza?Today's Big Question Former PM has reportedly been putting together a post-war strategy 'for the past several months'
-
When does autumn begin?The Explainer The UK is experiencing a 'false autumn', as climate change shifts seasonal weather patterns
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
