How much paper and ink are used to print the magazine?
It takes eight million pounds of paper and 649,000 pounds of ink to
print nine million issues of the magazine each month.
Is the magazine printed in Washington, D.C.?
No, in Corinth, Mississippi. The two gravure presses there are 157 feet
longabout the width of a football fieldand each weighs 390 tons. Three
offset presses are 110 feet long and each weighs 86 tons.
How is NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC sent
to members?
By second-class nonprofit mail. An estimated six percent of such mail
in the U.S. is generated by the magazine.
What does the research staff do?
Researchers verify all information that appears in our magazine, and help
ensure its fairness and objectivity. Usually one researcher is assigned to
a magazine article, and has about four to six weeks to complete the task.
He or she consults countless published and online sources, contacts as
many as 70 or 80 people and organizations mentioned or photographed, as
well as other experts throughout the world. We take great pride in knowing
that nothing appears in the magazine without being checked for accuracy
and balance.
How do you choose which articles to publish?
Senior editors and department heads meet each month to consider ideas and
proposals from outside contributers and staff members. They discuss each
idea in several contexts: Will it be interesting to our readers? Does it
duplicate other material we are preparing, or have recently published?
Why should we do this story now? The GEOGRAPHIC is a magazine of
discovery, and timing is crucial; an article should be relevant to
current events or scientific advancement.
Are internships available at NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC?
We have a GEOGRAPHIC internship designed for geography and cartography
majors enrolled in their junior or senior year of college or in a
masters program. Information about this internship, which accommodates
several students during the year, is sent late each summer to heads of
geography departments at colleges and universities throughout the
United States. They are asked to encourage only their strongest
students to apply.
We provide a summer internship in Journalism each year for one
college student selected by the American Society of Magazine Editors
(ASME). This student is one of 40 placed by ASME with magazines throughout
the country. An ASME intern must be in his or her junior year, be
starting a full senior year the following fall, and have
demonstrated a commitment to journalism as a profession. Announcements
about the program are available at college English or journalism
departments. They can also be obtained from the American Society of
Magazine Editors, 575 Lexington Avenue, New York, New York 10022;
telephone 1 212 752 0055.
Does the Society or the magazine have offices around the world?
We have no editorial bureaus. Branches of our advertising and business
functions are in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, London, Paris,
and at our printing plant in Corinth, Mississippi. We also publish a
Japanese language edition of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, with headquarters in Tokyo.
When will you again publish the works of Robert Kincaidthe photographer
in The Bridges of Madison County?
Alas, the sexy, middle-aged photographer, portrayed by Clint Eastwood in
the film that followed the book, is pure fiction. There is not, and never
was, a Robert Kincaid here, although some of our photographers have
shamelessly encouraged the comparison.
How can I go on a NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC expedition?
Sorry. We cannot offer that. The magazine may send a writer or
photographer to record an expedition, but it does not usually organize
it. The Society, as distinct from the magazine, awards grants to qualified
scientists, who are usually associated with universities or scientific
institutions. Their research projects may include expeditions, but most
grant recipients prefer to select their own team members, often graduate
students familiar with their work.
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