In a month when the covers of both Transworld Surf and Surfer Magazine feature portraits of Andy Irons against a black background, Surfer’s office mates at Surfing Magazine have a completely different take, according to a post by Stuart Cornuelle titled In Defense of Cowardice.
They’ve chosen not to do any work at all toward understanding or reporting the Andy Irons story. Not that they don’t have the scoop. Cornuelle writes:
The things we can’t say in our magazine could fill a…magazine…and Surfer’s the same, as is Transworld, and Surfline (ask L. Samuels), and even the venerated Stab, which is practically owned by Billabong. Make what you will of the fact that Brad Melekian, a Surfer Magazine writer, penned his Andy opus for Outside instead.
No. Surfing Magazine is going to remember Andy doing a big freesurfing cutback because as they say:
We’re not journalists. We don’t really chase leads or hound sources. We don’t chain smoke and flask-nip into the wee hours for no pay, just the satisfaction of spitting on the graves of our heroes. Sorry. Bookmark TMZ for your gossip fix — “you and every housewife in America,” to paraphrase Melekian’s well-researched article.
Guess it’s better than “the dog ate my homework” and Cornuelle got to call out Transworld Surf, Surfer, Stab and Billabong for good measure, but is this really a story to be proud of ignoring?
[Link: Surfing Magazine]
weak. cop-out.
The death of one of surfing’s best and most popular figures doesn’t get run in a mag called “Surfing?”
Sounds like some childish “stop snitching” code of silence bullshit.
I’m to take from this that they’ll be abandoning all narrative articles from here on out? Or just ones they’re embarrassed or guilty about?
A pretty amazing article about this phenomenon and surf media in general….have a read:
http://www.theinertia.com/business-media/surf-media-living-the-dream/
Yes, there is a feeling of “Mightier than thou” over at FILLABONG. The P.N.M (Paul Naude Machine) has alot of followers under that BIG umbrella.
Business is Business- that’s the side of the industry that NONE of the brands want to except. Naude is a nice guy, so is mcKnight and Wooly. everyone wants to throw the head honcho’s under the bus. (I.E-” Your Real youth against establishment Wooly!.. YOU SELL OUT !!” ) Why is it the figurehead that is responsible.? Everyone wants their businesses to succeed and prosper for themselves and their employees.Why is it Billabong’s Fault?Cause they didn’t keep their eye on their prize HORSE? Sounds as if- regardless of how much RADAR they had on him, he was kinda uncontrollable by his actions.It’s sad. SUPER SAD. But the ol’ song by Eric B. and Rakim titled ” You brought it on yourself ” really sums it up for all parties. if hind sight was 20/20 we would ALL be re-writing history. The truth Always comes out. It’s part of life.
Give them their due:
1. I think Stuart Cornuelle meant that those guys aren’t INVESTIGATIVE journalists. They are journalists, so it’s stupid for him to say they aren’t. But they’re not Woodward and Bernstein investigators, because the job doesn’t usually call for it.
2. What the job really calls for is ACCESS, and by not digging around the freshly dug grave of a guy they called a friend, they’re ensuring they don’t piss off his family, his friends and his sponsors – cos if they do, they will lose access to the Irons clan, the Kauai boys/wolfpack/NorthShore heavies and of course they’ll piss off Billabong, who may pull their ads … or may not (doesn’t help ‘bong to pull thier ads in one of the biggest selling surf mags – not at all).
3rd question is: Stuart is correct when he asks – ‘where’s the public interest in this?’ The public is surely interested, but why do they need to know the nitty gritty of a guy like AI’s life and of course his death? How does it help? Maybe, if it was a drugs related death, then talking about that could help steer some kids away from a life of debauchery and early death, but that’s not a reason for Surfing mag to dig around in areas the family doesn’t want to talk about yet. Let the family lead. This sin’t some eected politician lying to us all. This is a guy with a public profile who died tragically,but he and the family have every right to some privacy and respect.
That’s my 40c worth anyway.
Stuart’s piece is really well written and he deserves credit for his honesty … to a point. It’s honest for him to admit that endemic action sports media — particularly print media — isn’t journalism. It’s entertainment, pure and simple. For years, endemic action sports media has straddled the line, choosing to ignore obvious stories to avoid conflicts with advertisers while demanding “editorial independence” when it suited them. Please. We make very slick, branded content. How else would all those athletes get to all those far flung places that we can only afford to send a photographer to?
Having said that, Stuart is being willfully misleading when he refers to Melekian’s anecdote as 21st birthday alcohol poisoning. The guy flatlined, and he flatlined because he was out of control, and he was out of control because — according to countless surf industry folks who would never go on the record — he was an addict.
If you’ve decided not to cover the grimy underbelly of this story, more power to you. it’s your right as a producer of entertainment media not to. But when you do reference the story, even if you’re doing so to explain why you won’t be doing so, don’t gloss over the reality of it. After all, the reality didn’t keep you from idolizing Irons when he was alive. There’s no reason it has to keep you from idolizing him now that he’s gone.
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