Fast-food chain Subway recently announced that the company will remove an additive used in its bread. The outcry was prompted not by mainstream media, which typically overlooks important issues to report on drunk pop stars, but by an independent blogger.
Activist food blogger Vani Hari outed Subway for its use of the chemical azodicarbonamide in the bread. Azodicarbonamide is a plastic-based additive that is used in yoga mats and rubber shoe soles. The World Health Organization linked the chemical to respiratory problems and asthma. It has been banned to Europe and Australia, ABCNews reported.
The chemical produces air and is used in yoga mats and rubber shoe soles, and Subway used the chemical in its bread to give it a fluffy consistency. Upon the finding, Hari started a petition that gathered over 57,000 signatures demanding the chemical’s removal from Subway’s bread. And she did it on her own, without the help of widespread, mass appeal from the mainstream American media. The blogger, independent reported trend has continually increased.
The independent news site, National Journal, broke a story about the National Republican Congressional Committee creating fake Democratic websites. The phishing sites were designed to look like endorsement pages for Democratic candidates, but they were intended to trick Democratic voters into donating money to the NRCC.
The National Journal broke the story about the fake websites in December, but major media sources have been heavily reporting on the revelation in the past week. The likes of CNN and the Los Angeles Times have posted articles about the Republican scam, however, there has been no citation to the original source.
When mainstream media reports on an issue, it puts the issue on the national stage, but the major drawback is corporate backing forcing how selective large media outlets are about what to report and how much to emphasize the story. Mainstream outlets are corporate conglomerates with interests placed way above reporting current events to the public. They don’t encourage change, they stifle it.
Josh is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. Follow him on Twitter @dnJdeli.