In his world, obsession is key, editor says
Posted on Wednesday, May 23, 2007
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/190960/
As National Geographic magazine’s editor in chief, Chris Johns said Tuesday that one of the pleasures of his job is that he gets to work with people who are obsessed.
Johns, the first photographer to helm the more than centuryold magazine, spoke about the committed photographers, reporters and others who work for the magazine to a lunchtime crowd at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock.
One of those obsessed people is a Sudanese interpreter who went by the name of Sulieman. Johns said the former camel herder in northern Darfur was determined for the world to know the truth about the genocide in the region where more than 200, 000 people have been killed since 2003. So at great personal risk, Sulieman accompanied American journalists into Darfur until he, a driver from Chad and Paul Salopek, a correspondent for National Geographic magazine, were detained last August. All three men were beaten and tortured, Johns said. Despite being given the opportunity, Salopek and Sulieman refused to leave unless all three were freed.
Johns said New Mexico’s Gov. Bill Richardson, a former ambassador to the United Nations, was finally able to negotiate with Sudan’s president for the three men’s release. Sulieman is now in the United States where he is seeking asylum.
“We are not a magazine that does pictures of celebrities,” Johns said. “We are a magazine that gives voice to all kinds of people throughout the world — people like Sulieman.”
Another of the passionate magazine correspondents Johns discussed was a biologist named J. Michael Fay. Fay trekked 2, 000 miles through central Africa to the Atlantic in 450 days to survey the wildlife and people of the region. Fay even endured getting gored by an angry mother elephant during his journey.
Johns said the mission of the magazine is “to inspire people to care about the planet.”
That mission often includes going into forbidding places — both politically and geographically, he said. National Geographic correspondents have entered countries “under the radar” such as Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Johns himself, who has been National Geographic’s editor in chief since 2005, has covered Africa for nearly 20 years.
“We prefer to operate above board,” Johns said. “But sometimes to get to the truth to tell the story, it [subterfuge ] simply can’t be helped.”
Janice Choate, a Little Rock subscriber to National Geographic for 46 years, said she thinks the magazine still remains relevant to people who care about world affairs. She relates to people who collect boxes of National Geographic magazines. She said when she moved into her mother-in-law’s house she found an attic full of old issues of the magazine.
She even has bought subscriptions for her two granddaughters to National Geographic Kids.
As editor in chief, Johns said he has had to make “very few” compromises to boost the magazine’s bottom line.
He said the magazine, which is published in 31 languages, remains the greatest source of revenue for the nonprofit National Geographic Society. Much of the money the magazine makes, he said, is used for scientific grants.
“My mission is to reach people and keep them engaged in this [National Geographic ] Society and in this magazine,” Johns said. “Advertisers — and we have many of them — want to be associated with us because of our values and because we are trusted. So there are occasions when those advertisers may ask for more than we are willing to give. They may ask for endorsements, and we don’t give those. But I am supported by people above me who believe in the same mission I do. I have the world’s best job.”