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Rolling Stone

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Rolling Stone is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.

The magazine was first known for its coverage of rock music and political reporting by Hunter S. Thompson. In the 1990s, the magazine broadened and shifted its focus to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors, and popular music.<ref name="samuelfreedman.com"/> It has since returned to its traditional mix of content, including music, entertainment, and politics.

The first magazine was released in 1967 and featured John Lennon on the cover, and was then published every two weeks. It is known for provocative photography and its cover photos, featuring musicians, politicians, athletes, and actors. In addition to its print version in the United States, it publishes content through Rollingstone.com and numerous international editions.

The magazine experienced a rapid rise during the 1970s, followed by a sharp decline into financial turmoil in the 21st century,<ref name="theatlantic">Template:Cite news</ref> leading Jann Wenner to sell 49 percent of the magazine to BandLab Technologies in 2016 and 51 percent to Penske Media Corporation (PMC) in 2017.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> PMC eventually acquired the 49 percent stake from BandLab Technologies in 2019, giving it full ownership of the magazine.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

History

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1967–1979: Founding and early history

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Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and Ralph J. Gleason.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> To pay for the setup costs, Wenner borrowed $7,500 (Template:InflationTemplate:Inflation/fn) from his family and the parents of his soon-to-be wife, Jane Schindelheim.<ref name="Wenner's world">Template:Cite web</ref> The first issue was released on November 9, 1967, and featured John Lennon in costume for the film How I Won the War on the cover. It was in newspaper format with a lead article on the Monterey International Pop Festival.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The cover price was 25¢ (equivalent to $2.27 in 2023) and it was published bi-weekly.

In the first issue,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Wenner explained that the title of the magazine came from the old saying "A rolling stone gathers no moss". He also mentioned the 1950 blues song "Rollin' Stone", recorded by Muddy Waters, The Rolling Stones band, and Bob Dylan's 1965 hit single "Like a Rolling Stone". Some authors have attributed the name solely to Dylan's hit single: "At [Ralph] Gleason's suggestion, Wenner named his magazine after a Bob Dylan song."<ref>Richardson, Peter (2009). A Bomb in Every Issue: How the Short, Unruly Life of Ramparts Magazine Changed America. (The New Press) p. 109</ref>

Rolling Stone initially identified with and reported the hippie counterculture of the era.

Template:Blockquote

However, it distanced itself from the underground newspapers of the time, such as Berkeley Barb, embracing more traditional journalistic standards and avoiding the radical politics of the underground press. In the first edition, Wenner wrote that Rolling Stone "is not just about the music, but about the things and attitudes that music embraces".<ref name="HMI">Template:Cite book</ref> In a 2017 article celebrating the publication's 50th anniversary, Rolling StoneTemplate:'s David Browne stated that the magazine's name was a nod to the Rolling Stones in an addition to "Rollin' Stone" and "Like a Rolling Stone".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The magazine's long-running slogan, "All the news that fits", was provided by early contributor, manager and sometime editor Susan Lydon. She lifted it from an April Fools issue of the Columbia Daily Spectator which posted "All the news that fits we print", a parody of The New York TimesTemplate:' slogan, "All the News That's Fit to Print".<ref name=VQ1978>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The first appearance of the rubric was in 1969.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In the 1970s, Rolling Stone began to make a mark with its political coverage, with the likes of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson writing for the magazine's political section. Thompson first published his most famous work, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, within the pages of Rolling Stone, where he remained a contributing editor until his death in 2005.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the 1970s, the magazine also helped launch the careers of many prominent authors, including Cameron Crowe, Lester Bangs, Joe Klein, Joe Eszterhas, Ben Fong-Torres, Patti Smith and P. J. O'Rourke. It was at this point that the magazine ran some of its most famous stories. The January 21, 1970, issue covered the Altamont Free Concert and the killing of Meredith Hunter, which won a Specialized Journalism award at the National Magazine Awards in 1971.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Later in 1970, Rolling Stone published a 30,000-word feature on Charles Manson by David Dalton and David Felton, including their interview of Manson when he was in the L.A. County Jail awaiting trial, which won Rolling Stone its first National Magazine Award.<ref name=scoops>Template:Cite news</ref> Four years later, they also covered the Patty Hearst abduction odyssey. One interviewer, speaking for many of his peers, said that he bought his first copy of the magazine upon initial arrival on his college campus, describing it as a "rite of passage".<ref name="samuelfreedman.com">Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1972, Wenner assigned Tom Wolfe to cover the launch of NASA's last Moon mission, Apollo 17. He published a four-part series in 1973 titled "Post-Orbital Remorse", about the depression that some astronauts experienced after having been in space. After the series, Wolfe began researching the whole of the space program, in what became a seven-year project from which he took time to write The Painted Word, a book on art, and to complete Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine, a collection of shorter pieces<ref>Ragen 2001, pp. 22–26.</ref> and eventually The Right Stuff.

The magazine began running the photographs of Annie Leibovitz in 1970. In 1973, she became its chief photographer, and her images appeared on more than 140 covers. Rolling Stone recruited writers from smaller music magazines, including Paul Nelson from Sing Out!, who became record reviews editor from 1978 to 1983, and Dave Marsh from Creem.<ref name=writers>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1977, the magazine moved its headquarters from San Francisco to New York City. Editor Jann Wenner said San Francisco had become "a cultural backwater".<ref>Temple, Charles (April 18, 2009) "Rolling Stone closes last S.F. office". Template:Webarchive. San Francisco Chronicle. (Retrieved August 13, 2014.)</ref>

1980–1999: Change to entertainment magazine

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Kurt Loder joined Rolling Stone in May 1979 and spent nine years there, including as editor. Timothy White joined as a writer from Crawdaddy and David Fricke from Musician.<ref name=writers/> Tom Wolfe wrote to Wenner to propose an idea drawn from Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray: to serialize a novel. Wenner offered Wolfe around $200,000 to serialize his work.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> The frequent deadline pressure gave Wolfe the motivation he had sought, and from July 1984 to August 1985, he published a new installment in each biweekly issue of Rolling Stone. Later Wolfe was unhappy with his "very public first draft"<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> and thoroughly revised his work, even changing his protagonist, Sherman McCoy, and published it as The Bonfire of the Vanities in 1987.

Rolling Stone was known for its musical coverage and for Thompson's political reporting and in 1985, they hired an advertising agency to refocus its image under the series "Perception/Reality" comparing Sixties symbols to those of the Eighties, which led to an increase in advertising revenue and pages.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It also shifted to more of an entertainment magazine in the 1980s. It still had music as the main topic but began to increase its coverage of celebrities, films, and pop culture. It also began releasing its annual "Hot Issue".<ref name="IndianUniversity">Template:Cite book</ref> In the 1990s, the magazine changed its format to appeal to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors, and popular music. This led to criticism that the magazine was emphasizing style over substance.<ref name="samuelfreedman.com"/><ref name="theatlantic"/>

2000–2015: Expansion of readership

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File:RS 500 Front Cover.jpg
Rolling Stone cover from 2004

After years of declining readership, the magazine experienced a major resurgence of interest and relevance with the work of two young journalists in the late 2000s, Michael Hastings and Matt Taibbi.Template:Citation needed Rob Sheffield also joined from Spin.<ref name=writers/> In 2005, Dana Leslie Fields, former publisher of Rolling Stone, who had worked at the magazine for 17 years, was an inaugural inductee into the Magazine Hall of Fame.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2009, Taibbi unleashed an acclaimed series of scathing reports on the financial meltdown of the time. He famously described Goldman Sachs as "a great vampire squid".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In December 2009, the Los Angeles Times reported that the owners of Rolling Stone magazine planned to open a Rolling Stone restaurant in the Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood in the spring of 2010.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The expectation was that the restaurant could become the first of a national chain if it was successful.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> As of November 2010, the "soft opening" of the restaurant was planned for December 2010.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2011, the restaurant was open for lunch and dinner as well as a full night club downstairs on the weekends.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The restaurant closed in February 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bigger headlines came at the end of June 2010. Rolling Stone caused a controversy in the White House by publishing in the July issue an article by journalist Michael Hastings entitled "The Runaway General",<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> quoting criticism by General Stanley A. McChrystal, commander of the International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan commander, about Vice President Joe Biden and other Administration members of the White House. McChrystal resigned from his position shortly after his statements went public.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2010, Taibbi documented illegal and fraudulent actions by banks in the foreclosure courts, after traveling to Jacksonville, Florida and sitting in on hearings in the courtroom. His article, "Invasion of the Home Snatchers", also documented attempts by the judge to intimidate a homeowner fighting foreclosure and the attorney Taibbi accompanied into the court.<ref>Taibbi, Matt, Invasion of the Home Snatchers Template:Webarchive, Rolling Stone, November 10, 2010</ref><ref>Charney, April, "that day ... a stain on Jacksonville" statement, December 14, 2011 Occupy Jax advised by foreclosure attorney, 10:30–11:00, YouTube video uploaded December 15, 2011 Template:YouTube</ref>

In January 2012, the magazine ran exclusive excerpts from Hastings' book just prior to publication.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The book, The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan, provided a much more expansive look at McChrystal and the culture of senior American military and how they become embroiled in such wars. The book reached Amazon.com's bestseller list in the first 48 hours of release, and it received generally favorable reviews. SalonTemplate:'s Glenn Greenwald described it as "superb", "brave" and "eye-opening".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2012, Taibbi, through his coverage of the Libor scandal,<ref>Taibbi, Matt, "Why is Nobody Freaking Out About the LIBOR Scandal?" Template:Webarchive. Rolling Stone, July 3, 2012</ref> emerged as an expert on that topic, which led to media appearances outside Rolling Stone.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>July 4, 2012 Viewpoint with Elliot Sputzer Template:Webarchive</ref> On November 9, 2012, the magazine published its first Spanish-language section on Latino music and culture, in the issue dated November 22.<ref>Newman, Andrew Adam (November 6, 2012). "Rolling Stone Pages Aimed at Latinos, Even the Ads" Template:Webarchive. The New York Times.</ref><ref>Moreno, Carolina (November 12, 2012). "Rolling Stone Magazine Publishes First Spanish-Language Section On Latino Music And Culture" Template:Webarchive. The Huffington Post.</ref>

2016–present: New ownership

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In September 2016, Advertising Age reported that Wenner was in the process of selling a 49% stake of the magazine to a company from Singapore called BandLab Technologies. The new investor had no direct involvement in the editorial content of the magazine.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In September 2017, Wenner Media announced that the remaining 51% of Rolling Stone magazine was up for sale.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In December 2017, Penske Media acquired the remaining stake from Wenner Media.<ref name="NewYorkTimesRS">Template:Cite news</ref> It became a monthly magazine from the July 2018 issue. On January 31, 2019, Penske acquired BandLab's 49% stake in Rolling Stone, gaining full ownership of the magazine.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In January 2021, a Chinese edition of the magazine was launched,<ref name="inews.co.uk">Template:Cite web</ref> while in September 2021, Rolling Stone launched a dedicated UK edition in conjunction with Attitude magazine publisher Stream Publishing.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The new British Rolling Stone launched into a marketplace which already featured titles like Mojo and BandLab Technologies's monthly music magazine Uncut.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The first issue had a choice of three cover stars (including music acts Bastille and Sam Fender, as well as No Time To Die actor Lashana Lynch), with the magazine due to be a bi-monthly publication.

In February 2022, Rolling Stone announced the acquisition of Life Is Beautiful, saying, "Live events are an integral part of Rolling Stone's future."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2023 Rolling Stone was nominated for its first-ever Emmy award in the "Outstanding Interactive Media" category for its investigation into "The DJ and the War Crimes".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The piece also won a National Magazine Award for digital design<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and an Overseas Press Club Award.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In December 2023 Rolling Stone collected five National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> four Front Page Awards,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and a Deadline Club award.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Covers

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Template:See also Some artists have been featured on the cover many times, and some of these pictures went on to become iconic. The Beatles, for example, have appeared on the cover more than 30 times, either individually or as a band.<ref name="RS1000">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The magazine is known for provocative photography and has featured musicians and celebrities on the cover throughout its history.<ref name="nyt-crownofthorns">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The cover of the issue from January 22, 1981, featuring John Lennon and Yoko Ono, has been called the "Greatest Rolling Stone Cover Ever" by Vanity Fair.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The first ten issues featured, in order of appearance:

  1. John Lennon
  2. Tina Turner
  3. The Beatles
  4. Jimi Hendrix, Donovan and Otis Redding
  5. Jim Morrison
  6. Janis Joplin
  7. Jimi Hendrix
  8. Monterey International Pop Festival
  9. John Lennon and Paul McCartney
  10. Eric Clapton

The magazine spent $1 million (equivalent to $Template:Inflation million in Template:Inflation/year) on the 3-D hologram cover of the special 1,000th issue (May 18, 2006) displaying multiple celebrities and other personalities.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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The printed format has gone through several changes. The first publications, in 1967 to 1972, were in folded tabloid newspaper format, with no staples, only black ink text, and a single color highlight that changed each edition. From 1973 onwards, editions were produced on a four-color press with a different newsprint paper size. In 1979, the bar code appeared. In 1980, it became a gloss-paper, large-format (10 × 12 inch) magazine. Editions switched to the standard 8 × 11 inch magazine size starting on October 30, 2008.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Starting with the new monthly July 2018 issue, it returned to the previous 10 × 12 inch large format.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Website

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The publication's site at one time had an extensive message-board forum. By the late 1990s, this had developed into a thriving community, with many regular members and contributors worldwide. However, the site was also plagued with numerous Internet trolls, who vandalized the forum substantially.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The magazine abruptly deleted the forum in May 2004, then began a new, much more limited message board community on their site in late 2005, only to remove it again in 2006. In March 2008, the website started a new message board section once again, then deleted it in April 2010.

Rolling Stone devotes one of its table of contents pages to promoting material currently appearing on its website, listing detailed links to the items.

On April 19, 2010, the website underwent a redesign and began featuring the complete archives of Rolling Stone.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The archive was first launched under a for-pay model, but has since transitioned to a free-with-print-subscription model.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In the spring of 2012, Rolling Stone launched a federated search feature, which searches both the website and the archive.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The website has become an interactive source of biographical information on music artists in addition to historical rankings from the magazine. Users can cross-reference lists and they are also provided with historical insights. For example, one group that is listed on both Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time is Toots and the Maytals, with biographical details that explain how the band coined the term "reggae" in their song "Do the Reggay".<ref>Rolling Stone. "453. Toots and the Maytals, 'Pressure Drop'" Rolling Stone magazine. Web. April 7, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2016. Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Rolling Stone. "380. Toots and the Maytals, 'Funky Kingston'" Rolling Stone magazine. Web. May 31, 2012. Retrieved December 16, 2016. Template:Cite magazine</ref> For biographical information on all artists, the website contains a directory listed alphabetically.<ref>Rolling Stone. "Artists". Rolling Stone magazine. Web. Retrieved December 16, 2016. Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Glixel

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Template:Anchor In May 2016, Wenner Media announced plans to create a separate online publication dedicated to the coverage of video games and video game culture. Gus Wenner, Jann Wenner's son and head of digital for the publication at the time, told The New York Times that "gaming is today what rock 'n' roll was when Rolling Stone was founded". Glixel was originally hosted on Rolling StoneTemplate:'s website, and transitioned to its own domain by October 2016. Stories from Glixel are included on the Rolling Stone website, while writers for Rolling Stone were also able to contribute to Glixel. The site was headed by John Davison, and its offices were located in San Francisco.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In June 2017, Rolling Stone closed down the Glixel offices and fired the entire staff, citing the difficulties of working with the remote site from their main New York office. Brian Crecente, founder of Kotaku and co-founder of Polygon, was hired as editorial director, and ran the site from the main New York office.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Following the sale of Rolling StoneTemplate:'s assets to Penske Media Corporation, the Glixel content was merged into the routine publishing of Variety, with Crecente remaining as editorial director.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Political alignment

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Template:Liberalism US

In 2017, Graham Ruddick of The Guardian described Rolling Stone as a "rock'n'roll magazine turned liberal cheerleader".<ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref> Bruce Schulman wrote in The Washington Post that Rolling Stone has "routinely support[ed] liberal candidates and causes" since the 1990s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2008, conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg stated that Rolling Stone had "essentially become the house organ of the Democratic National Committee".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner has made all of his political donations to Democrats,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and has conducted high-profile interviews for the magazine with Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.<ref name=":2" /> Rolling Stone endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 U.S. presidential election.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Rolling Stone has criticized Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump.<ref name=":2" /> In 2006, it described Bush as the "worst president in history".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=":2" /> In August 2017, the cover of the magazine featured Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau with the headline "Why can't he be our president?"<ref name=":2" />

Criticism and controversies

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One major criticism of Rolling Stone involves its generational bias toward the 1960s and 1970s. One critic referred to the magazine's "500 Greatest Songs" list as an example of "unrepentant rockist fogeyism".<ref name="Popism"/> In further response to this issue, rock critic Jim DeRogatis, a former Rolling Stone editor, published a thorough critique of the magazine's lists in a book called Kill Your Idols: A New Generation of Rock Writers Reconsiders the Classics, which featured differing opinions from many younger critics.<ref>July 4, 2004. Idle worship, or revisiting the classics. Jim DeRogatis. Chicago Sun-Times. Article discussing intention of book Template:Webarchive</ref>

Rolling Stone has been criticized for reconsidering many classic albums that it had previously dismissed, and for frequent use of the 3.5-star rating. For example, Led Zeppelin was largely written off by Rolling Stone critics during the band's most active years in the 1970s, but by 2006, a cover story on the band honored them as "the Heaviest Band of All Time".<ref name="shout">Template:Cite web</ref> A critic for Slate magazine described a conference at which 1984's The Rolling Stone Record Guide was scrutinized. As he described it, "The guide virtually ignored hip-hop and ruthlessly panned heavy metal, the two genres that within a few years would dominate the pop charts. In an auditorium packed with music journalists, you could detect more than a few anxious titters: How many of us will want our record reviews read back to us 20 years hence?"<ref name="Popism">Template:Cite web</ref>

The hiring of former FHM editor Ed Needham in 2002 further enraged critics who alleged that Rolling Stone had lost its credibility.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The 2003 "100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time" list, which named only two female musicians, resulted in Venus Zine answering with their own list, entitled "The Greatest Female Guitarists of All Time".<ref name="The Greatest Female Guitarists of All Time">Template:Cite web</ref>

Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers has been criticized for his high number of repetitively used blurbs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Homosexual HIV story

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In 2003, the article "Bug Chasers: The men who long to be HIV+" claimed that homosexuals who intentionally sought to be infected with HIV accounted for 25% of new cases each year. However, the physicians cited in the article later denied making such statements.<ref name="Drudge 2003">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="newsweek2003">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Sullivan 2003">Template:Cite web</ref>

Anti-vaccine article

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In 2005, the article "Deadly Immunity", by activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., attracted criticism for quoting material out of context, and Rolling Stone eventually amended the story with corrections in response to these and other criticisms.<ref name="kloor">Template:Cite news</ref>

Tsarnaev cover

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The August 2013 Rolling Stone cover, featuring then-accused (and later convicted) Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, drew widespread criticism for "glamorizing terrorism", and was called a "slap in the face to the great city of Boston".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The online edition of the article was accompanied by a short editorial stating that the story "falls within the traditions of journalism and Rolling StoneTemplate:'s long-standing commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of our day".<ref name=reitman>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The controversial cover photograph that was used by Rolling Stone had previously featured on the front page of The New York Times on May 5, 2013.<ref name=wemple>Template:Cite news</ref>

In response to the outcry, New England–based CVS Pharmacy and Tedeschi Food Shops banned their stores from carrying the issue.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> They were later joined by Walgreens,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Rite-Aid, Kmart,<ref name="kmartriteaid">Template:Cite news</ref> Roche Bros., Stop & Shop,<ref name="cover photo">Template:Cite news</ref> H-E-B, Walmart,<ref name="HEBwalmart">Template:Cite news</ref> 7-Eleven,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hy-Vee, Rutter's Farm, United Supermarkets,<ref name="cstorerollingstone">Template:Cite news</ref> Cumberland Farms, Market Basket,<ref name="augustrollingstoneissue">Template:Cite news</ref> and Shaw's.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Boston mayor Thomas Menino sent a letter to Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, calling the cover "ill-conceived, at best ... [it] reaffirms a message that destruction gains fame for killers and their 'causes'." Menino also wrote, "To respond to you in anger is to feed into your obvious market strategy", and that Wenner could have written about the survivors or the people who came to help after the bombings instead. In conclusion he wrote, "The survivors of the Boston Marathon deserve Rolling Stone cover stories, though I no longer feel that Rolling Stone deserves them."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Defamatory false rape story and lawsuit

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Template:Main

On November 19, 2014, the magazine ran the story "A Rape on Campus", about an alleged gang rape on the campus of the University of Virginia.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> Separate inquiries by Phi Kappa Psi, the fraternity accused by Rolling Stone of facilitating the alleged rape, and The Washington Post revealed major errors, omissions and discrepancies in the story.<ref name="WaPoWemple">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Reporter Sabrina Erdely's story was subject to intense media criticism.<ref name="WaPoWemple"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Washington Post and Boston Herald issued calls for magazine staff involved in the report to be fired.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Rolling Stone subsequently issued three apologies for the story.

On December 5, 2014, Rolling StoneTemplate:'s managing editor, Will Dana, apologized for not fact-checking the story.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The magazine commissioned an outside investigation of the story and its problems by the dean of the Columbia School of Journalism. The report uncovered journalistic failure in the UVA story and institutional problems with reporting at Rolling Stone.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Rolling Stone retracted the story on April 5, 2015.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The next day, following the investigation and retraction of the story, Phi Kappa Psi announced plans to pursue all available legal action against Rolling Stone, including claims of defamation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On May 12, 2015, UVA associate dean Nicole Eramo, chief administrator for handling sexual assault issues at the school, filed a $7.5 million defamation lawsuit in Charlottesville Circuit Court against Rolling Stone and Erdely, claiming damage to her reputation and emotional distress. Said the filing, "Rolling Stone and Erdely's highly defamatory and false statements about Dean Eramo were not the result of an innocent mistake. They were the result of a wanton journalist who was more concerned with writing an article that fulfilled her preconceived narrative about the victimization of women on American college campuses, and a malicious publisher who was more concerned about selling magazines to boost the economic bottom line for its faltering magazine, than they were about discovering the truth or actual facts."<ref>Shapiro, T. Rees, "U-Va. dean sues Rolling Stone for 'false' portrayal in retracted rape story Template:Webarchive", Washington Post, May 12, 2015</ref> On November 4, 2016, after 20 hours of deliberation,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a jury consisting of eight women and two men found Rolling Stone, the magazine's publisher and Erdely liable for defaming Eramo, and awarded Eramo $3 million.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On July 29, 2015, three graduates of the fraternity Phi Kappa Psi filed a lawsuit against Rolling Stone, its publisher Wenner Media, and a journalist for defamation and infliction of emotional distress.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The same day, and just months after the controversy began, The New York Times reported that managing editor Will Dana was departing the magazine with his last date recorded as August 7, 2015.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On November 9, 2015, the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity filed suit for $25 million for damages to its reputation caused by the magazine's publication of the story, "with reckless disregard for the truth".<ref name="Shapiro">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Simpson">Template:Cite news</ref> Rolling Stone paid the fraternity $1.65 million to settle the suit out of court.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Ethics controversy over El Chapo interview

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In 2016, Rolling Stone commissioned Sean Penn to write a feature on Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán in what was billed as a landmark story and Guzmán's first-ever interview. Penn met Guzmán, then wanted by Mexican and U.S. authorities, at a jungle hideout for an interview, which was agreed to by Guzmán on the condition he have final editorial control over the article.<ref name="reuters">Template:Cite news</ref> Upon publication, the article, characterized by the Associated Press as "long and rambling", was extensively mocked by social media users and prompted a discussion about the magazine's ethical standards.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Andrew Seaman, chairman of the ethics committee of the Society of Professional Journalists, called the decision to allow a source pre-approval of an article "inexcusable", while the Poynter Institute's chief ethicist Kelly McBride opined that the article evidenced several failures of editorial control by Rolling Stone.<ref name="reuters"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In an interview with NPR, Alfredo Corchado, a former Mexico City bureau chief for the Dallas Morning News, said that pre-approval rights meant the story was not real journalism: "It's business, it's Hollywood. It's more in the lines of what a public relations firm would do."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Questions also arose as to whether relaxed security procedures by the magazine helped authorities track and capture Guzmán, who was arrested several days after the interview was conducted.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Meanwhile, Kate del Castillo, who arranged the meeting, said that she had to flee the country after the article's publication, and charged that Penn had "used me as a bait, and then he never protected me. And risked my life and my parents' life and my sister's life and everybody surrounding me."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Penn later said his article "had failed", noting that discussion about the ethics of the story overshadowed the actual report.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

False ivermectin story

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In September 2021, Rolling Stone picked up a story published by Oklahoma news outlet KFOR which claimed that so many people had been hospitalized due to ivermectin overdoses in Oklahoma that there was no room in intensive care units for other patients, including those with gunshot wounds.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> However, an Oklahoma hospital said in a statement that there was no shortage of beds due to ivermectin overdoses,<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the doctor who had been interviewed by KFOR had not said that ivermectin cases were crowding out other patients, but the initial story and subsequent coverage had linked separate comments about ivermectin overdoses and scarce beds.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale stated that Rolling Stone had "[run] an adaptation of the KFOR story without appearing to do sufficient research to make sure the local report was sound".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Rolling Stone subsequently added an editor's note that retracted the core point of its story.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Kyle Smith of National Review called Rolling Stone's correction "so humiliating, it's a wonder the place doesn't shut its doors immediately, liquidate all assets, and deny that it ever existed."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Robby Soave of Reason said that the correct story was "something Rolling Stone could have figured out on its own had the magazine bothered to contact any hospitals in Oklahoma, but alas."<ref name=":1" /> Alex Shephard of The New Republic wrote, "For mainstream and, particularly, liberal media this should be a stark reminder of the value of due diligence and checking sources. At the very least, make a phone call."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

James Gordon Meek child pornography case

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On January 31, 2023, ABC News reporter James Gordon Meek was arrested by the FBI and charged with transporting child pornography. Rolling Stone initially broke the story, but did not mention the child sexual abuse images that led to the investigation, which were known to the reporters. Instead, it suggested that Meek had been "targeted" by the US government for his reporting on national security issues, writing that "Meek appears to be on the wrong side of the national-security apparatus".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In the following months, it was revealed that Rolling Stone editor Noah Shachtman, who personally knows Meek and is considered friendly with him, had the story rewritten before publication to exclude all mentions of the child sexual abuse material, without the original journalist Tatiana Siegel's knowledge.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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George Harrison's 1975 song "This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying)", a lyrical sequel to his Beatles track "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (1968), references the magazine in its second verse: "Learned to get up when I fall / Can even climb Rolling Stone walls". The song was written in response to some highly unfavorable reviews from Rolling Stone and other publications for Harrison's 1974 North American tour and his album Dark Horse.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The 2000 film Almost Famous centers on a teenage journalist writing for the magazine in the early 1970s while covering the fictional band Stillwater. The film was directed by Cameron Crowe and was based on his own experiences as a young journalist for the magazine in the same time period.<ref>"Biography," Template:Webarchive The Uncool: The Official Website for Everything Cameron Crowe. Accessed December 14, 2014.</ref>

"The Cover of Rolling Stone" is a song written by Shel Silverstein and first recorded by American rock band Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show. The song satirizes success in the music business; the song's narrator laments that his band, despite having the superficial attributes of a successful rock star (including drug usage, "teenage groupies, who'll do anything we say", and a frenetic guitar solo), has been unable to "get their pictures on the cover of the Rolling Stone".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The title track of Pink Floyd's album The Final Cut features the line, "Would you sell your story to Rolling Stone?"

The track "Baker Street Muse" on Jethro Tull's album Minstrel in the Gallery includes the line "I have no time for Time Magazine or Rolling Stone".

Charlie Robison's 1998 song "Sunset Boulevard" name-drops the magazine with the line, "Well, I wish I had my picture on the Rolling Stone today".

In Stephen King's novel Firestarter, the protagonists decide to tell their story to Rolling Stone.

In Joni Mitchell's song "California", the magazine is referenced in the line, "Reading Rolling Stone reading Vogue".

In May 2022, the off-Broadway play Retraction, adapted from the "A Rape on Campus" article controversy and resulting legal battles, premiered at Theatre Four at Theatre Row in New York City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

International editions

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Publisher Steve DeLuca said the international editions typically include 50 to 80 percent of the American version of the magazine, translated in their own languages, and supplemented with local content.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Since PMC took over full ownership of the magazine, Rolling Stone is published in 15 territories around the world, with the introduction of Rolling Stone UK in September 2021 and Rolling Stone Africa in July 2024, the latest to be launched.<ref name="TD" /><ref>Rolling Stone UK Issue 001, page 17</ref>

Defunct

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See also

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References

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