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The Huffington Post was sold to AOL for $315 million yesterday, meaning the site, which was once the darling of independent media, is now clearly positioned as institutionalized media. As the editor of NaturalNews, I have, over the last several months, received several concerning emails from credentialed medical writers and natural health authors whose stories were dropped from consideration for publication at Huffington Post. There was a rising sense of frustration long before this sale that seemed to indicate HuffPost was headed in the direction of conventional media.

Yesterday’s sale to AOL merely confirms this. AOL, of course, is the recent spin-off of Time Warner, which also owns CNN, Warner Bros., TIME, HBO, Fortune, People, and a long list of other mainstream media giants (http://www.cjr.org/resources/index….). There is a tremendous amount of concern reverberating across the ‘net that the HuffPost acquisition by AOL will turn the site into just another conformist, watered-down corporate mouthpiece.

Many of the site’s best writers are wondering where they can go to get their alternative medicine stories published. It certainly isn’t WebMD, which even the New York Times just called out as being a mouthpiece for the pharmaceutical industry, saying “WebMD is synonymous with Big Pharma Shilling”. (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/m…) 

It’s a good time to be truly independent

As it happens, NaturalNews is, just this month, launching a format change that will make NaturalNews.com more like what the Huffington Post used to be: A collection of stories from independent thinkers, grassroots authors and people who challenge the status quo. A site where intelligence takes precedence over conformity, and where authors and writers who question the status quo are welcomed… and even featured!

Beginning today, NaturalNews is actively welcoming credentialed writers and op-ed authors who wish to be featured on NaturalNews.com as part of our new format which places more emphasis on featured contributing writers. We especially welcome former Huffington Post writers who want to be part of a truly independent, yet well-established health news site that already reaches millions of readers each month.