VegNews is putting the MEAT into vegan issues

This story broke on quarrygirl a few days ago now, but I thought it was interesting. As I'm in the UK I don't get the magazine. I believe I've read it a few times over the years, but I thought some of you board members across the pond might be interested.
The basics of the story are that vegnews having been putting up pictures of meat & dairy products in their magazine & on their website & claiming that they are vegan versions of the product. They've even gone as far as photoshopping out bones etc to create the illusion of a 'veganized' version of a well known product.

My main concern is:
1/ Have they actually made the recipes?
2/ Using stock shots may mislead you about how a finished product should look.
3/ They do not state that the photos are actually stock shots &/or could be meat or other animal products.
4/ They haven't made any effort to amend the old policy.
5/ They removed posts from their site rather than address the issue & only addressed it at all once people like The New York Times & other major news groups started to run with the story.
6/ Their 'apology' (see pdf here) seems more concerned about people talking about the issue (the dialogue), than the concerns some people have raised about honesty & openness by the owners & staff. Also the fact the letter is 'signed' by the vegnews team rather than a person & that no changes are being offered despite there being some concerns from many vegans.

Final point a guy I know & well known (in the UK) vegan chief Tony Bishop-Weston has agreed to match any istock photo price & actually MAKE the food then photograph it for the magazine, can you say fairer than that!

Here's the original article

Some other links

tree huggers

Google news

NPR

vegansaurus

CNN

New York Times

Strangely enough the crew at vegnews do photograph their own food on their blog here

Some stock photos used


Vegan Pho: http://vegnews.com/web/articles/page.do?pageId=1635&catId=10

Original: http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-7724433-vietnamese-soup.php

Spiced Banana Pancakes: http://vegnews.com/web/articles/page.do?pageId=1908&catId=10

Original: http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/90441821

Chocolate Seitan Pie: http://vegnews.com/web/articles/page.do?pageId=34&catId=10

Original: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3672/springtime-shepherds-pie

Moroccan Tagine: http://vegnews.com/web/articles/page.do?pageId=1814&catId=10

Original: http://www.cookinglight.com/food/quick-healthy/easy-chicken-recipes-00412000068136/page33.html

Vegan Siu Mai Dumplings: http://vegnews.com/web/articles/page.do?pageId=2120&catId=10

Original: http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-2236493-chinese-dimsum.php

Ziti with Tomato Sauce: http://vegnews.com/web/articles/page.do?pageId=1536&catId=10

Original: http://www.flickr.com/photos/68644229@N00/268626233/

Vegan Mexican Food (the same picture that was on one of their MAGAZINES!): http://vegnews.com/web/articles/page.do?pageId=2956&catId=2

Original: http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/82879153/The-Image-Bank

Seems to be a BIG turn around vegNews have fully apologised & promise to only use vegan pictures from now on!

Here's the latest quarrygirl article about it

Here's the vegNews piece

Here's the vegNews apology

Great display of people power - this can be done with ANY company. Get enough people to say thy will stop buying a product & any company will soon change whatever the consumer says! Just shows you - I know vegNews must realise vegans are more likely to do what they say, but hopefully other companies can be made to switch strategies using a little people power!

I only read what you wrote in the OP and then clicked on part 6 of your original post (their "apology). I was 5 lines in when I concluded their moral compass was permanently broken. That's just me though. I've seen that sort of thing too many times already. To the extent they've changed their minds or whatever, it's just that they've recognized they weren't going to get away with what they were doing this time. This world is full of such shit and generally the more power, the more shit.

OTOH the corporate protests in Great Britain against tax dodging corporations are really nice to see. It's hoped that will catch on here but probably not so much. We're a little too disconnected from one another here.