Thursday, January 28, 2010

National Geographic: You're killin' me man!

For those of you who know me, you'll understand that National Geographic and I have a love/hate relationship. I really enjoy their magazine and their channel and am subscribed to both. I am less inclined to like their daily science news because they tend to over sensationalize and report non-peer reviewed science. Although they have gotten better recently, they really have mucked up a few times in the past with bias reporting or jumping ahead of the facts.

Such is the reality of Science news aimed at a broad audience, and I have accepted that.

Now I'm a long time supporter of National Geographic besides this, I am subscribed to both their television station and magazine. I am also subscribed to their YouTube channel which is what this whole blog is actually based upon. Today while checking new videos I decided to watch some National Geographic clips, this is because the National Geographic channel offered in Canada isn't as good. Most of the clips on YouTube I have not seen and sometimes are relevant to my reading in their magazine.

What did I find when I accessed one of their videos:


This video contains content from National Geographic, who has decided to block it in your country.


Lovely isn't it! They really don't mine my Canadian money for their television programming, or for their magazine but if I want to have a look at them on YouTube... nope I'm all of a sudden not good enough. Unfortunately I haven't gotten to the bottom of why this is happening, I assume it has to do something with ads and their not making money off their channel. I may be wrong, but I doubt it.

So lets have a little history lesson shall we. A little background information about National Geographic will show that one of the most influential participants in both its creation and getting the magazine where it is today is Alexander G. Bell. This man is very important to me actually because I've always seen him as a great example of intellectual achievement and he happened to do a lot of experiments locally on my island. Now Bell did a lot of work on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia he also did some great work in Ontario but more notably were his innovative inventions he thought up and worked on in his summer home in Nova Scotia.

Before his death he spent a lot of time in Canada, mainly in his summer home in Nova Scotia. During this time he was the active President of the National Geographic Society and helped them get financially on their feet again he also changed the perspectives of the target audience of their magazine laying the ground work for the National Geographic as we know today. He eventually stepped down before he died, and I'll note he was buried in Nova Scotia.

What has been done to National Geographic is detestable and nothing like Bell intended it to be. It did very well for a time, but now limiting its audience goes against the fundamentals it was built upon.

The biggest hypocrisy in this move is that National Geographic knows no boundaries, it is a venue that showcases every portion of our planet has to offer. You'll find stories from all cultures, and all countries... and they make a profit off of this and continue do so. Now suddenly they are restricting access from counties all over the world? That's laughable.

2 comments:

Kelly said...

Sounds as if mischief or corruption or greed is afoot, Dr. Watson. But yeah, if I were shelling the money and not getting the programming and whatever else the other country's station is getting -then a phone call would have to be made, maybe an email, too. Finding the ones responsible and then... you'll do what's necessary. (He said, with darkness dwelling with those eyes). Also, the post implies that Alexander G. Bell has been an inspiration to you. Would that be an accurate word?

Dark Slander said...

Kelly:
I've been making many e-mails concerning this no replies as of yet but I will be diligent. Perhaps my sense of justice is different than most people but I feel that what Nat Geo is doing is an injustice which must be corrected.

As for Bell, yes he is quite the inspiration to me. I rarely look up to people because I fell that most people who are being looked up to are shell less forms which have offered litter in the way of an intelligent thought. Bell would be one of my exceptions, and unfortunately he was before my time. I would have loved to meet him.