《美国国家地理杂志》杂志负责人承认种族主义报道的历史

'National Geographic¹' Magazine Chief Admits History of Racist² Coverage³

National Geographic magazine admitted this week that racism⁴ had influenced its reporting on the world for generations.

The head of National Geographic was critical of its images of bare-breasted women. She rejected descriptions of brown-skinned tribesmen as savage⁵ and unintelligent.

"We had to own our story to move beyond it," editor-in-chief Susan Goldberg told the Associated Press. She was speaking about the magazine's April edition, which explores the issue of race.

The National Geographic Society, a not-for-profit organization, first published its magazine in 1888.

John Edwin Mason, a photography historian, investigated National Geographic’s reporting and choice of photos over the years. He teaches African history and the history of photography at the University of Virginia.

Mason reported his findings to the magazine in late 2017. His study found that until the 1970s, National Geographic largely ignored people of color in the United States unless they were laborers⁶ or domestic servants. It often supported the idea that people of color from foreign lands were "exotics, famously and frequently unclothed, happy hunters, noble savages⁷…every type of cliché," Mason added.

For example, in a 1916 story about Australia, a sentence next to a photo of two Aboriginal⁸ people read: "South Australian Blackfellows: These savages rank lowest in intelligence of all human beings."

This examination comes as other media organizations are also considering their past reporting work. The New York Times recently admitted that most of its obituaries⁹ described the lives of white men. The newspaper began publishing stories on famous women in an area called "Overlooked." It launched the project on March 8, International Women’s Day.

The April edition of National Geographic included a letter from Goldberg. She identified herself as the magazine's first female and first Jewish editor.

Goldberg said in the letter that when the editors decided¹⁰ to examine the subject of race, “we thought we should examine our own history before turning our reportorial gaze to others.”

She told the AP, "I knew when we looked back there would be some storytelling that we obviously would never do today, that we don't do and we're not proud of. But it seemed to me if we want to credibly¹¹ talk about race, we better look and see how we talked about race."

Mason said his investigation¹² found repeated examples of racist imagery in the magazine's representation of people of color. For example, they often wore little clothing, he said. People of color were also not usually seen in cities or with “technologies such as cars, airplanes, trains or factories,” Mason added.

“People of color were often pictured as living... as ancestors might have lived several hundreds of years ago and that's in contrast to Westerners who are always fully¹³ clothed and often carrying technology."

Boys and men, Mason said, "could count on every issue or two of National Geographic having some brown skin bare breasts for them to look at." He said he believes that the editors knew that was “one of the appeals of their magazine.”

Women, especially those from Pacific islands, were photographed in “ways that were almost glamour¹⁴ shots,” Mason said.

Samir Husni heads the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi's journalism¹⁵ school. He said many Americans first learned about the rest of the world by reading National Geographic.

Husni said it is important that kind of coverage never happens again. He added that offering jobs in the magazine field to people from all backgrounds is a way to apologize for the past.

Goldberg said she is doing just that. She noted¹⁶ that National Geographic has done a better job of employing women than members of racial and ethnic¹⁷ minority groups.

"We need photographers who are African-American and Native American because they are going to capture a different truth and maybe a more accurate story," Goldberg said.

National Geographic now reaches 30 million people around the world. It was one of the first magazines to publish color photos. The monthly magazine is well known for its coverage of history, science, environmentalism and culture. It can currently be found in 172 countries and in 43 languages.

I'm Ashley Thompson.

And I'm Caty Weaver¹⁸.

Words in This Story

bare-breasted – adj. without clothing covering one’s breast; topless

savage – adj. not under human control; wild or violent

beyond – adv. on the father side; until a later time

edition – n. the form or version of a publication

exotic – adj. very strange, unusual or different

cliché – n. something that has become commonplace

obituary¹⁹ – n. an article in a newspaper about the life of someone who has died recently

gaze – n. a fixed²⁰ look

credibly – adv. in a way that is reasonable to trust or believe?

obviously – adv. in a way that is easy to see, understand, or recognize?

contrast – n. something that is different from something else; a difference between two people or things

glamour – n. a very exciting quality

accurate – adj. free from mistake; able to produce results

1 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

2 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

3 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

4 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

5 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

6 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

7 savages   

未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There're some savages living in the forest. 森林里居住着一些野人。
• That's an island inhabited by savages. 那是一个野蛮人居住的岛屿。

8 aboriginal   

adj.（指动植物）土生的，原产地的，土著的

参考例句：

• They managed to wipe out the entire aboriginal population.他们终于把那些土著人全部消灭了。
• The lndians are the aboriginal Americans.印第安人是美国的土著人。

9 obituaries   

讣告，讣闻( obituary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Next time I read about him, I want it in the obituaries. 希望下次读到他的消息的时候，是在仆告里。
• People's obituaries are written while they're still alive? 人们在世的时候就有人给他们写讣告？

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 credibly   

ad.可信地；可靠地

参考例句：

• I am credibly informed that. 由可靠方面听说。
• An effective management software ensures network to run credibly. 一个高效的网管软件是网络运行的可靠保证。

12 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

13 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

14 glamour   

n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住

参考例句：

• Foreign travel has lost its glamour for her.到国外旅行对她已失去吸引力了。
• The moonlight cast a glamour over the scene.月光给景色增添了魅力。

15 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

16 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

17 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

18 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

19 obituary   

n.讣告，死亡公告；adj.死亡的

参考例句：

• The obituary records the whole life of the deceased.讣文记述了这位死者的生平。
• Five days after the letter came,he found Andersen s obituary in the morning paper.收到那封信五天后，他在早报上发现了安德森的讣告。

20 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。