Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/08/30

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Subject: Re: [Leica] National Geographic scandal
From: Eric Welch <eric@jphotog.com>
Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 08:39:24 -0700

Well, I agree in part, but you obviously are not aware of all they do. 
Or what it takes to produce what they produce every month for 
11,000,000 readers when it still take two or three years to go from 
shoot to print. Or the education support, or map makers, or fact 
checkers (who obviously slip up once in a while), book division, etc, 
etc.

And I disagree, the photos have not deteriorated to the same level as 
the writing - and even the writing isn't as bad as people say - if they 
understand that many of the writers aren't really writers. They are 
adventurers, scientists, mountain climbers, but experts in their 
fields. What they lack in prose is made up for with information. You 
don't expect Shakespeare and you won't be so disappointed.

Their problem is they think TV is more important than print, and don't 
want to spend as much money on print as they used to. The very people 
who made them what they were are getting short-shrift because 
bean-counters are counting the wrong beans. You can bet every person in 
that building working in the print division of National Geographic has 
to justify their existence, unlike the folks over in the "golden boy" 
TV division.

On Saturday, August 30, 2003, at 06:36  AM, Rolfe Tessem wrote:

> The writing, IMHO, was always terrible but one put up with it for the 
> quality of the photography. Now they are equally bad. If you saw the 
> rows and rows of offices in the National Geo building filled with 
> people doing essentially nothing, you would be even more outraged.

Eric Welch
Carlsbad, CA
http://www.jphotog.com

Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco. - Will Rogers.

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Replies: Reply from "animal" <s.jessurun95@chello.nl> ([Leica] lagavullin)
Reply from Rolfe Tessem <rolfe@ldp.com> (Re: [Leica] National Geographic scandal)