Courteney Munro, National Geographic President Content yesterday released Nat Geo’s Content Inclusion Standards.
- The standards apply to feature docs, specials, series and scripted programs.
- The Nature category is broken out for detailed coverage.
Our mission is to inspire, support, and elevate diversity and inclusion in every aspect of our daily work, storytelling, and content and product offerings, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Collectively, these Inclusion Standards provide benchmarks upon which our inclusion efforts and progress can be measured, and they serve as a vital expression of the value we place on inclusion as an organization.
Following is the cover letter sent to producers, followed by the slides.
COVER LETTER
Dear Producers,
I hope this note finds you doing well and staying safe and healthy. I am writing to share with you our newly established Inclusion Standards.
As you know, National Geographic has an over 133-year-old legacy of using the power of storytelling to change the world. But our story is only complete when everyone’s voice is included.
I believe it is important to use the influence we have as leaders in the entertainment industry to not only utter words, but also to make a commitment to act on them. To that end, we have established a new set of Inclusion Standards that we’re implementing across all of our Nat Geo owned and produced programming content to ensure multidimensional representation across the entire creative and production process.
These new guidelines are intended to make our content and productions as inclusive as possible, serving as a catalyst for real and sustained change. They also aim to increase the provision of training and development opportunities for underrepresented group members, and our engagement with under-served audiences. Our mission is to inspire, support, and elevate diversity and inclusion in every aspect of our daily work, storytelling, and content and product offerings, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Collectively, these Inclusion Standards provide benchmarks upon which our inclusion efforts and progress can be measured, and they serve as a vital expression of the value we place on inclusion as an organization.
While the Nat Geo Inclusion Standards apply to content owned and produced by Nat Geo, we strive to partner with external content creators whose own efforts similarly promote inclusivity for underrepresented groups in the industry. These Standards will be used as one reference point for whether those partners’ values are aligned with ours. To that end, we invite you to learn more about the Standards (attached), our commitment to inclusion, and ways that you can share your own inclusion efforts and progress with us. Should you choose to engage in efforts similar to these Standards, we would be happy to share resources and learnings from our journey with you.
We are committed to working with you to ensure our yellow border is a symbol of inclusion and truly represents diverse voices – behind the camera and in front – and is reflective of the audience that we aim to serve.
Our team of National Geographic creative executives is available to help you with any questions you may have.
Respectfully,
Courteney Monroe
President, Content National Geographic
