In a week filled with realizations that “wait, this country is still inherently racist from the moment it wakes up to the moment it sleeps”, perhaps the most complex and invisible bit of empirical evidence has thrown itself into the ring last minute, and somehow it’s related to print journalism–that dinosaur your parents talk about when they’ve had a little too much to drink.
In a move that has shocked people who don’t know what to do with dark features on magazine covers without the word Kardashian floating around, Rolling Stone has placed Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the cover image of its August 3 issue. The issue’s cover story, entitled “Jahar’s World,” is an investigative piece that purports to shed light on the man behind the terrorist, and how a “popular, promising student was failed by his family, fell into radical Islam and became a Monster.” So you know, light beach reading.
The reactions since Tuesday evening, when Rolling Stone put the cover online, have been emphatic, with many claiming that the cover glorifies Tsarnaev (and thus, terrorism) by making him look like a rock star (claims that are more a reflection on the context that comes with a rock magazine cover and with the way Tsarnaev’s hair flows like Jim Morrison’s, an uneasy sight that proves even terrorists are capable of getting good genes). Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has called the cover “out of taste,” while pharmacy and fluorescent-light mecca’s CVS and Walgreen’s have banned the issue “out of respect for the victims of the attack and their loved ones.” The Facebook thread that resulted when Rolling Stone uploaded the cover was filled with similar cries of boycott, with some even decrying, ” Rolling Stone is a music magazine, not the Taliban Times!” (Nailed it.)
Of course, Rolling Stone has dipped its toes in politics far more than critics are giving them credit. Just three years ago, RS journalist Michael Hasting’s scathing exposé on General McArthur lead to his forced resignation by the Obama administration. (Hastings was killed in a car accident earlier this year, though rumors of foul play as Hasting’s was apparently on the tip of another big story have been floating around ever since.) And Matt Taibbi has largely become the leading American journalist in all matters of the great financial collapse.
So no, Rolling Stone is not just a music magazine–has never been, should never be. Politics has always been a vital, at times overshadowing, beat that the publication has taken seriously. So take a big breath you guys, because there is nothing harder to tackle than the notion of being racist and not even realizing it a little bit. Because if something feels big, and it’s making you get loud, and somehow you’re not sure what you’re talking about exactly, chances are what you’re really talking about is race.(For appetizers, #NeverForget that The Week portrayed bother brothers as being about 50 shades darker than their actual skin tone.)
Reactions to the Rolling Stone cover image are undeniably tied to a host of big picture topics, like the role of the mainstream media or the time it takes to emotionally process a large-scale event, but what it really comes down to is that the most subversive way to present a monster is by humanizing him. Besides, if you want to pinpoint the most sickening bits of media coverage regarding the Boston bombing, look no further than the constant claims of breaking news during the actual 72 hours that comprised the event. Objective journalists clapping when Tsarnaev was savagely beaten, arrested and allegedly not read his Miranda Rights more ethically queasy than a cover that makes anyone look like a normal person (especially when that’s, you know, the entire thesis of the cover story itself).
Republished with permission from: AlterNet