National Geographic lays off all of its staff writers, veterans acknowledge
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Washington: Iconic National Geographic magazine that chronicled wonders of the natural world laid off all its staff writers.
The 135-year-old magazine will now on be put together by editors and freelancers, The Washington Post reported.
The ax fell on remaining 19 editorial staffers and the magazine’s audio department who had been notified about the impending situation in April.
The layoffs come amid flood of job cuts at tech and media publications this year, Daily News reported.
The veteran writers of the magazine including Craig Welch tweeted about the job cuts, while expressing gratitude for their time there.
‘My new National Geographic just arrived, which includes my latest feature — my 16th, and my last as a senior writer’, Welch wrote.
The award-winning writer added, ‘NatGeo is laying off all of its staff writers. I’ve been so lucky. I got to work [with] incredible journalists and tell important, global stories. It’s been an honor.’
Another staffer, Douglas Main wrote on Twitter that ‘It’s been a wonderful five years — an honor and a joy. Very proud of the work that my colleagues and I have done here.’
The magazine, owned by the Walt Disney Co since 2019, has been cutting jobs over the past several years.
In an unprecedented ousting the company laid off six top editors last September, The Washington Post reported.
Founded in 1888 by the National Geographic Society, the magazine had 12 million U.S. subscribers at its prime in 1980s alongside a few million around the world.
The magazine brought out each issue after months of rigorous research and study with classic field photos and ground reporting.