Rolling Stone did this on purpose

Rolling Stone Magazine is taking a lot of heat today for their story and cover photo of Jahar Tsarnaev; especially here in Boston.  As someone who was very close to the events of 4/15/13 and the days that followed (click here and scroll down from Friday back through Monday), I can absolutely understand why.  A lot of stores including CVS, Walgreens, Tedeschi, and Roche Brothers have decided to boycott selling the magazine.  After realizing that they had caused a controversy, Rolling Stone released this not very apologetic statement:

"Our hearts go out to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, and our thoughts are always with them and their families. The cover story we are publishing this week falls within the traditions of journalism and Rolling Stone’s long-standing commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of our day. 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."

Clearly it was a poor choice of photo.  I wonder if the article would have still been a big deal had they gone with one like this instead?

But they didn't.  My guess is the magazine knew exactly what they were getting into.  Before today I can't remember the last time I even heard anyone mention Rolling Stone (was it when I wrote about people who were almost famous in the movie Almost Famous?).  Despite the fact that the publicity is all negative, it's probably the best press they've gotten in a long, long time.  Pulling crap like this is the magazine's attempt at prolonging their inevitable demise in the face of popular media shifting away from printed paper.  I laughed out loud when I thought about how much money CVS won't be losing by not selling this issue of Rolling Stone.

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