Rolling Stone Magazine Sales Doubled After Tsarnaev Cover

Rolling Stone magazine saw the sale of its controversial "Boston Bomber" edition double despite widespread outrage toward the magazine for seemingly glamorizing 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

According to the UK's Independent newspaper, figures from the Magazine Information Network show sales increased by 102 percent over average per issue sales in the past year.
Over 13,000 copies of the issue were sold, more than double the sales average for the previous year.

The cover photo of the magazine, showing the Boston-bombing suspect, continues to be the subject of intense debate. A "boycott Rolling Stone" Facebook page was created encouraging readers to abandon the magazine, while retailers including CVS and Walgreens removed the magazine from their stores.

Others, including Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, accused the magazine of presenting Tsarnaev as a rock star by giving him space on the cover normally reserved for celebrities.

But Rolling Stone has defended its decision to publish the cover, arguing that it fell "within the traditions of journalism and [its] long-standing commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of our day."