Gabrielle Bergeron

Mr. Kefor

Journalism F Block

Rolling Stones Magazine Cover

Rolling Stone Scandal

            Tragedy struck Boston, Massachusetts on April 15^th, 2013. Two brothers, Dzhokhor and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, set off two bombs at the Boston Marathon. These bombed killed three and maimed about two hundred and sixty four others. Tamerlan was killed after the bombing while brother Dzhokhor (also known as Jahar) was publicized on the cover of Rolling Stones Magazine. Despite the fact that Rolling Stone wrongly romanticizes Jahar’s portrait on the cover, the article was filled with new and informative incite to the bombers life.

            Though I believe publishing articles of the bombers wrong doing and spreading knowledge of the tragedy is imperative; it could have been executed in more efficient/ less offence ways. Rolling Stone should not have used a picture that portrayed Jahar with such innocence. Using such a photo made Rolling Stone appear ignorant. Instead of glorifying the terrorist by putting him on the front cover of an entertainment magazine they should have put the focus on those who really matter, such as the victims and their families. Those who were hurt or have loved ones who were injured or killed in the bombing deserve a front cover not a cold blooded killer.

            Massachusetts State Police officer Sgt. Sean Murphy correctly accused Rolling Stone Magazine of “glamorizing the face of terror.” (The New York Times) Out of anger at the Rolling Stones Magazine Sgt. Sean Murphy released a confidential photo of Jahar on the night he was arraigned in Watertown. The photo depicted Jahar weak, bloody, with sniper lasers darting in on him. As Sgt. Sean Murphy and many others believe he should always be remember. Exactly the opposite of how Rolling Stone featured him on the cover.

            Though the cover was disgraceful, wrong, and disrespectful to victims and family members the article was worth reading. It provided many insightful trips into Jahar’s seemingly normal past. Jahar went to a private high school and was very active in the schools wrestling program. Jahar’s wrestling coach, Coach Payack, recalls when his son called to tell him “suspect number two” was Jahar, “it was beyond shocking. It was like an alternative reality.” He found it hard to believe Jahar, “a kid that we mentored and loved like a son could have been responsible for all this death.” Coach Payack told writers of Rolling Stone. He fully believed Jarah was a great kid before all of this. Coach Payack knew Jahar had a slightly different up bringing than most but he could have never guessed it could lead to this much death and distruction.

            How could no one have known such horrible people were mixed into our everyday American society? How could we let such terrible people slip through the cracks? Well, Rolling Stone points out how deceptive Jahar was. He had almost everyone around believing he was a normal teenage kid who smoked a lot of pot and listened to a lot of music. Many were told Jarah Tsarnaev never voiced his political or religious views. However, Rolling Stone informs us Jahar had told a friend, when talking about the devastating attacks on September 11^th, 2001, “well, you’re not going to like my view.” As far as Jahar that is one of the only accounts we have of him speaking out against America. Tamerlan on the other hand was on both Russian and American watch lists.

            Rolling Stone Magazine made a detrimental mistake. Many people refused to buy the magazine, cancelled their subscription, or even refused to sell the magazine. If Rolling Stone had just changed the cover photo to a more accurate match to Jahar’s evil personality people may not have been so angry. Though the photo was disgraceful, humiliating, and disrespectful the article published to go along with it was very informative and worth the read.