March 28, 2024

CVS and Walgreens Ban an Issue of Rolling Stone

It was explicitly the cover image, a photo of Mr. Tsarnaev that he used online, which shows him with long hair and a trim mustache and in an Armani Exchange shirt — not the lengthy article inside — that has drawn criticism. Over the day, those objections gathered momentum, aided by social media.

Both CVS and Walgreens made their announcements on Twitter; their messages were passed on hundreds of times.

The cover of Rolling Stone has long been a sign for rock stars, celebrities and even politicians that they have arrived, and the sight of the bombing suspect receiving similar treatment has provoked strong reaction, especially from the Boston area.

By the afternoon, Mayor Thomas M. Menino had sent a letter to the publisher of Rolling Stone, Jann S. Wenner, objecting that the cover “rewards a terrorist with celebrity treatment.” And Gov. Deval L. Patrick of Massachusetts, responding to a question from reporters, said: “I haven’t read it, but I understand the substance of the article is not objectionable. It’s apparently pretty good reporting. But the cover is out of taste, I think.”

The bombings on April 15, which Mr. Tsarnaev is accused of carrying out with his brother, Tamerlan, killed three people and wounded more than 260 near the finish line of the race.

Mr. Tsarnaev pleaded not guilty to 30 federal charges contained in a sweeping terrorism indictment.

Another chain, Tedeschi Food Shops, which is based in New England, also said it would not carry the issue, dated Aug. 1, explaining on its Facebook page that while the company “supports the need to share the news with everyone,” it “cannot support actions that serve to glorify the evil actions of anyone.”

The magazine published a note atop the article that began: “Our hearts go out to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, and our thoughts are always with them and their families.” After defending the article, which was written by the investigative reporter Janet Reitman, as fitting the magazine’s tradition of serious journalism, the editors try to turn some of the criticism on its head.

“The fact that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is young, and in the same age group as many of our readers, makes it all the more important for us to examine the complexities of this issue and gain a more complete understanding of how a tragedy like this happens,” they wrote.

Ms. Reitman reported the article over the last two months, Rolling Stone said, interviewing childhood and high school friends, teachers, neighbors and law enforcement officials. The result, the magazine says, is “a riveting and heartbreaking account of how a charming kid with a bright future became a monster.”

Ms. Reitman, who declined to comment when reached via e-mail, responded on Twitter before the full article was posted online, to a friend writing in support, “It’s kind of astonishing. No one has even read it yet!”

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/18/business/media/cvs-and-walgreens-ban-an-issue-of-rolling-stone.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Media Decoder Blog: The Breakfast Meeting: Instagram in Retreat, and ‘Jersey Shore’ Signs Off

The photo-sharing app Instagram on Thursday completed a full retreat from its proposed new terms of service that led to instant outcry from users, Nicole Perlroth and Jenna Wortham reported. The question, however, was whether the move came too late from Instagram, which was acquired this year by Facebook and is under the same pressure as its parent company to generate advertising revenue. The proposed changes included a clause that suggested Instagram would share users’ data — like their favorite places, bands, restaurants and hobbies — with Facebook and its advertisers to direct ads more precisely. In the interim, other services, including Flickr, which coincidentally has just introduced a new app, appeared to be gaining followers.

The Boston Globe on Thursday appointed a new editor, Brian McGrory, a Boston-area native who began his connection to the newspaper as a paperboy, Christine Haughney reports. He has been a columnist, White House correspondent and metro editor in his 23 years there, yet was something of an unexpected choice. Mr. McGrory succeeds Martin Baron, who was picked to be the next editor of The Washington Post. “After Marty Baron’s extremely successful tenure here, we don’t need any overhaul,” said Christopher M. Mayer, the publisher of The Globe, which is owned by The New York Times Company.

Gil Friesen, who helped establish AM Records with the band leader Herb Alpert and music promoter Jerry Moss, in the 1960s, died in Los Angeles on Dec. 13 at age 75, Paul Vitello writes. He was one of the first employees at the record company, which took the A from Alpert, and the M from Moss — Mr. Friesen, Mr. Alpert said, was the ampersand in the middle. He encouraged the company to produce movies too, and later became a founding partner of the Classic Sports cable channel, which was sold to ESPN in 1997 for $175 million. Thus, Mr. Vitello writes, he became known in Hollywood as one of the few executives with entrepreneurial successes in music, film and TV.

On Thursday night, the MTV series “Jersey Shore” signed off after a six-season run that introduced characters like the Situation and Snooki. The real Jersey Shore has been in people’s thoughts because of the destruction there from Hurricane Sandy; expect the show and its cast to quickly fade away, never to return, Ken Tucker writes for Entertainment Weekly. At the top of the piece, he frames his question: “What is ‘Jersey Shore’ ’s lasting significance, its enduring impact?” His answer: “Absolutely none.” You would be forgiven for stopping right there, but he continues:

But by any measure, there is nothing about Jersey Shore that merits enshrining it in any category of TV history other than “Time Killer.” As I can attest in preparing to write this piece, it doesn’t hold up as entertaining in reruns; it already plays like one of those ancient artifacts of papyrus — a newspaper, I believe they were called — that has been crumpled and tossed to the air.


Article source: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/21/the-breakfast-meeting-instagram-in-retreat-and-jersey-shore-signs-off/?partner=rss&emc=rss