It was a decision that ruffled the feathers of many journalists in the industry, and understandably so. Out of an oceans worth of potential worthy suitors, Rolling Stone Magazine’s co-founder and publisher, Jann Wenner, has decided the only one worthy to carry the torch for the publications online department is his 22-year-old, fresh out of college son, Gus Wenner.
Despite only spending a matter of months within the folds of the company as a contributor Gus is now the head of Rollingstone.com. Industry commentators and journo’s aren’t too pleased with the decision. Wenner’s only previous experience in ‘the biz’ seems to be his fairly underwhelming collaboration with the spawn of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, Scout Willis.
Further adding insult to injury for all those who had been eyeing the top job for some time – Wenner Jnr isn’t even on Twitter, suggesting this dude has no idea what he’s got coming at him. Wenner Snr has decided to look past all this, explaining:
“He’s worked at Rollingstone.com for the past six or seven months. He’s reporting to people who are really smart. And he’s not doing any reckless things.”
Out of his 3 children in total, it appears Gus was selected for the massive honour as he was “the one who showed the most promise.” This will make for one awkward family dinner conversation.
Being a family run operation, the move won’t come as a massive shock to many. Jann himself only started when he was 21, but given the glaring inexperience of Gus, and the overwhelming sway the publication holds in the music world, things can go wrong very quickly. Jann can’t see this happening, however, further justifying his decision by adding:
“Young people today are a lot more savvy than people were 40, 50 years ago. They’re better educated. And he’s a college grad. I wasn’t.”
For now, the Australian edition of Rolling Stone will remain unaffected by the changes but the brand is fast falling from favour with the public, with this news following the super controversial decision to include Nirvana in the ‘Worst Bands Of The ’90s’ list.
(Via Tone Deaf)
