BUSINESS
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ast month, social media feeds were buzzing when Rolling Stone Magazine ran a cover story on the young man arrested in the Boston marathon bombing. From the date of release, its website received a 41 per cent increase over the previous week’s traffic. The feature story also led to plenty of social media user engagement. According to reports in AdWeek, more than 105,000 readers “liked” the articles on Facebook and another 5,600 shared them on Twitter directly from the Rolling Stone website. Rolling Stone Magazine also garnered more than 12,500 comments. Physical sales of the magazine doubled. It was a gold mine month for Rolling Stone Magazine. One could argue that putting Jahar Tsarnaev on the cover is courageous. One could further argue that telling a story that tries to bring some healing to the victims while at the same time balancing some in-
sight into the mind and life of a murderer is also courageous. But there is a difference between courage and audacity. I have been reading Rolling Stone Magazine for decades. I have seen it go through growth spurts and stagnant times. It has gone through being a magazine with well-written editorials that are interesting, edgy, provocative and insightful. It has also had years of complacency, boring anecdotes of the Rock n Roll elite and music reviews that have become less relevant and trustworthy than some of the newer contemporary music publications. There is no question that Rolling Stone needs to put some fire back into its pages which seem to have died after the Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll decadence of the 70’s and 80’s became passé. Lets face it, not much has happened post the post punk era - so why not post a story about rebellion, angst and torment?
I can think of one good reason not to. That reason is called responsibility. For years Rolling Stone Magazine has been making its living off stories of self-destructive, overindulgent or manic rock stars. The biggest difference is that while musicians can be selfish, egomaniacal or self-destructive, they are not sociopaths. Making Jahar Tsarnaev look like a rock star on the cover of Rolling Stone is just plain wrong. He looks like he could be Russell Brand’s twin brother. Rolling Stone has no right to objectify and glamorize or glorify a sick person who is likely feeling gratified to rank among the musicians Rolling Stone has covered. Studies have shown that the physiological profile of a sociopath is someone enjoys, or at least appreciates, the media attention. Selling magazines comes with a responsibility and I think that Rolling Stone crossed the line.
Since 1994, Rishi Gerald, founder and CEO of RishiVision and entrepreneurial coach, has empowered thousands of businesses. Rishi has an MBA in marketing and entrepreneurial studies and a BBA in accounting. He has spent nearly twenty years coaching, consulting, managing and supporting thousands of businesses from new start ups to active global leaders. For more information on Rishi, please visit www.rishivision.com.