Outrage, condemnation, and rejection are greeting the new issue of Rolling Stone, due to be released Friday, because the shaggy-haired, baby-faced image gracing the cover is that of accused Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The magazine’s managing editor Will Dana says the choice was not to “glorify what he did,” but rather to explore a story this is “powerful and disturbing.”
Frequent NOWist Kurt Andersen was unfazed, tweeting sardonically: “Of course Tsarnaev is on the cover of @RollingStone: a scruffy, long-haired, 19-year-old stoner rebel who got famous overnight.”
What do you think? Is the veteran music magazine wrong to use this photo of Tsarnaev, or is it necessary for the story they are telling? Tell us what you think, and watch Alex Wagner and NOW panel break it down in the video above.
Joshua Chaffee