VegNews finally (properly) acknowledges the issue
“We screwed up.”
Those three words were all a lot of us needed to move on to bigger issues, and we finally got them from VegNews yesterday. After word spread about Quarrygirl’s discovery of non-vegan stock photos throughout numerous issues of the magazine plenty of us were shocked. Of course, what came to be even more shocking, at least for me, was the lack of an appropriate response from the magazine itself.
Sure, their initial post acknowledged the issue, but there was no solution, and that was a big mistake. In the world of social media, and a mass media that is always willing to jump on the anti-vegan bandwagon, this story had plenty to run with. So, it became the hot topic for many of us (including the New York Times, CNN and NPR to name a few) as we ranted, raved, debated and discussed what it all meant. And, of course, we waited to see if VegNews would change their ways.
Well, not all of us waited. Some either put their feet firmly into the ground and defended the magazine, while others turned and walked away. Whether it was the actions of their readers, advertisers, the media or something else, VegNews finally admitted their mistake yesterday.
Personally, I’ve never bought more than an issue or two of the magazine, mainly because I don’t want to be heavily influenced by someone else’s work while creating my own. However, I do hope that the magazine can move past this whole thing and get back to promoting a vegan lifestyle in a respectable way. With their commitment to creating a vegan stock photo site (shout out to Get Sconed PDX for being the first person I know to suggest such a thing!), I think things just might get better for the magazine. Eventually.
Professionally, I believe there is enough room out there for at least two vegan magazines, and I’m happy to notice that people have found their way here for whatever reason over the past week or two. We’re working on the final touches for issue five this week, and it should be out next week, so I’m hoping people will continue to check out what we’re doing.
And rest assured, as always, there will be no non-vegan stock photos in the issue.
=p
