National Geographic Executive Vice President Terrence Adamson presents the first Lithuanian language edition of the magazine to a crowd of Lithuanian academics, celebrities and journalists Sept 24. Photo by Nathan Greenhalgh.

VILNIUS — While most print media companies are biting the dust or at least cutting back on pages, National Geographic has gone the other way launching its 33rd language edition in Lithuania, holding a launch party in Vilnius last night.

National Geographic Executive Vice President Terrence Adamson told Baltic Reports that Lithuania had been chosen for the second country in Eastern Europe after Slovenia for a language edition because the country’s publishers had been so eager to bring the publication here. He said the drive of the locals made the country stand out from the other contenders.

Editor in Chief Chris Johns said he had been very impressed with the standard of the local journalists and photographers and said some may end up featured in the magazine.

“Sometimes we use articles from the other language editions and take them to English … I have seen some photography by two photographers today and it was very impressive,” he told Baltic Reports.

When asked about the stability of the market and the viability of a new magazine, Johns said the magazine worldwide was “very healthy” and would support the new Lithuanian version initially.

Traditionally, the nonprofit magazine has relied on subscriptions for income, but Adamson said that Lithuania would likely follow other worldwide markets where news stand sales bring in a large proportion or revenue.

“In the U.S. 95 percent of our customers are subscribers, but here it will be single copy purchases. There isn’t a culture of subscription here, but we will try to cultivate that,” he said.