The New York Times editorial board strongly backed Rolling Stone on Friday, saying that critics of the magazine's decision to put Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on its cover were guilty of "hysteria."
The cover has become the subject of boycotts and political condemnation and has even caused one especially angry man to promise to buy as many copies as he can just so he can burn them.
The Times made clear it did not approve:
Maybe the hysteria about Rolling Stone's August issue is heat-wave induced. That's the only charitable explanation for the stampede of critics who have been accusing Rolling Stone editors of trying to turn Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the man accused of the Boston Marathon bombing, into a rock star merely by putting him on the issue's cover. (Never mind the word "monster" right there in big type.)
...Singling out one magazine issue for shunning is over the top, especially since the photo has already appeared in a lot of prominent places, including the front page of this newspaper, without an outcry. As any seasoned reader should know, magazine covers are not endorsements.
Read the full editorial here.