Craig Elmer “Owl” Chapman didn’t like his profile in The Surfer’s Journal so he sued. Now a federal court in Honolulu has decided that The Surfer’s Journal profile written by Jeff Johnson was not libelous, according to a story in Pacific Business News.
After a six-day trial in U.S. District Court, the eight jurors ruled in favor of the magazine and found that neither the publisher, Steve Pezman, or the article’s author, Jeff Johnson, made false statements in the 13-page magazine spread on Chapman. . . “It’s a complete victory for the defendants and a strong affirmation of the media’s right to write about public figures,” said Jeffrey Portnoy, managing partner of Honolulu law firm Cades Schutte, which represented The Surfer’s Journal. “We’re tremendously excited. There aren’t too many jury verdicts, especially in Hawaii, and this one is one of the few.”
Looks like the truth is a savage taskmaster. Thanks to Steve Pezman for fighting to good fight for writers and publisher everywhere.
In a time when stories rarely make it into action sports magazines without first being vetted by the companies who paid for the trips it’s interesting to follow Scott Bass’s Surfermag.com story of Owl Chapman’s lawsuit against The Surfer’s Journal.
Apparently, Owl wasn’t happy with the way he was characterized in a Jeff Johnson story featured in the August/September 2006 issue of TSJ titled, “El Hombre Invisible (With Apologies to William S. Burroughs) An Owl Chapman Story.” He was so angry that he filed suit in Oahu Federal court. Here’s what Owl is upset about:
According to the court, “The Article as a whole–while a personal, narrative account fraught with descriptive, figurative language–generally implies that (1) Johnson ordered a surfboard from Plaintiff and (2) Plaintiff failed to deliver the surfboard on time as promised, took Johnson’s money up front and then deliberately avoided him for approximately two months, and failed to craft the surfboard to Johnson’s specifications.” . . . Specifically Chapman’s lawsuit claims that, “A ridiculously extreme portrait (indeed a most sinister caricature) of plaintiff emerges that casts him in a false light —- and which, further, points to a grandiose egotist who is mean-spirited, self-serving, full of braggadocio, impossibly arrogant and in the end, a degenerate, pathetic and drug-addled social outcast.”
Wait, isn’t that how it always is when buying a custom shaped board from a genius shaper?
Tim Cook, the man running what is often the world’s most valuable company (Apple, duh!) sent out a photo via Twitter from The Surfer’s Journal because the cover was shot on an iPhone by Zak Noyle.
The point here being, all you need is a brand new iPhone and you too can shoot photos like this. Seriously, you’re only $1,100 away from a cover shot right now. Get on it. Happy Holidays.
Looks like The Surfer’s Journal is joining the digital age with a couple Tyler Manson video clips on Vimeo. Apparently, someone under 40 works at TSJ now. This clip features a little quiver swap between one of the Malloys and Dane Reynolds.
Ride shotgun with Dan Malloy and Dane Reynolds as they cruise from their Ventura homes to Emma Wood State Beach for a quiver swap. This insider look at their modes of surfing comes to a head as they trade—and ride—everything from homemade hunks to foiled Fryes.
Surfersvillage and Global Surf News have always bummed us out a little. Their “we post everything and don’t care who we steal it from” mentality made for some great fun in the early days as online editors at certain surf magazines delighted in posting completely bogus stories just to see how quickly the seemingly irony impaired minds behind Global Surf News would pick them up and run with them. Remember the Rip Curl Search at Swami’s story?
But now, with The Surfing Yearbook, Surfer’s Village has done something that we think will become standard for most publications in the action sports media space (if they’re smart). They have collected a year’s worth of posts from their websites, added some great photos, and a bit of commentary and perspective and are releasing it all in a 240-page illustrated coffee table book edited by surf journalist Phil Jarratt. Here’s what he said about it:
“What we’re aiming to do with The Surfing Yearbook is to present a fully-rounded picture of surfing that will appeal to everyone in the sport, culture and industry, from the lowliest grom surfing in his first amateur comp to the high-rolling CEO of the biggest surf corporations. We’re targeting the grom first because we know the CEOs will follow.”
Hi. Hope you had stellar Et tu, Brute and St. Paddy’s Days. Been missing out on the news? Here it is. Follow the jump for a list of stories that have something to do with snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing, fashion, and/or business.
[Editors’ Note: Okay, just for historicity sake here goes the media story that we hinted we weren’t all that interested in covering because you don’t hold funerals for zombies.]
Today (October 3, 2020) it was announced that the Bible of the Sport of surfing, Surfer Magazine has been shuttered by what remains of American Media Inc. (now called A360 Media). The 60 year old chronicle of the surfing life will live no longer. Longtime Photo Editor Pete Taras said it this way on Instagram:
It’s with great sadness that I write that today was my last day at SURFER. Between Transworld SURF, SURFER, and SURFING, that was half my life. 21 years between the three. It’s really hard for me to put into words right now the feelings. I’m a weepy mess. I taught. I was taught. I cared so much for all the creatives I worked with over the years. We were family. Thank you @fijichili for providing that 16-year old film when I needed it. @chriscote , Marc Hostetter, @the_check_republic and Joel Patterson, you took a chance hiring me as a 23 year old Photo Editor. @eslate you gave me confidence to go full bore with my visual vision. @chatoaganza , you were always the creative guiding light. @jimmicane you always brought the heat! @todprod you taught me patience and professionalism. Lastly, I want to thank my wife @grettygt123 for having to deal with it all through thick and thin. With much love – Peter
Taras (and the rest of the Surfer Magazine staff) were only the first wave of “furloughs.” The employees in the Carlsbad, California offices who survived the first round will reportedly stay on the payroll until November 20, 2020. Then they too will be out of a job. Happy Thanksgiving to them and to you all.
Bike, Snowboarder, and Powder magazines are also being put to rest: RIP. Oh, and David Pecker remains true to his name, one more time.
The artist/filmaker Thomas Campbell aka T Mossian has a new book out titled Slide your Brains Out.
The first of ten projected volumes in Um Yeah Press’ surf photobook series, Slide Your Brains Out compiles work from the past 15 years. Often lo-fi and gritty, other times lush and saturated, Campbell’s compositions–which include portraits and action shots of some of the best surfers in the world–are always surprising and full of emotion, from melancholy to exultation.
Ross Garrett (right) the former Director of Operations and Development for The Surfer’s Journal has been named Vice President of Surf Products for Surfline.com. Also joining the Surfline.com team in Huntington Beach, California is new Global Forecast Development Manager Mark Willis.
“Ross and Mark are each incredibly talented and well respected within the unique surfing and ocean-based meteorology markets we serve with Surfline and Buoyweather. We are excited to have them both hit the ground running to help continue to drive the growth of our products,” said CEO Jonno Wells.
Garrett and Willis will officially join Surfline on February 1, 2012. For more background on both, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Sad news from Mavericks. Hawaiian big wave surfer Sion Milosky, 35, reportedly drowned at approximately 6 PM Wednesday, March 16, 2011, while surfing the Northern California big wave spot, according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle.
“He went down the face of the wave. He made a bottom turn and he totally made the wave, but the water caught up to him and it just kind of engulfed him and raced him down,” said the surfer, who did not wish to be identified because he had taken the day off from work but did tell his employers that he would be surfing. . . “The last image I have of him was of him standing on his board as the whitewater was kind of engulfing him,” he said.
Mikosky’s body was reportedly found by Nathan Fletcher near the Pillar Point Harbor mouth.
Milosky was pronounced dead at Seton Coastside Hospital in Moss Beach. He leaves behind a wife and two daughters.
Milosky, described by Transworld Surf as “one of (if not the hardest) charging surfers in the world)” was featured on a recent cover of Transworld Surf Magazine’s Tales From The North Shore issue. Our thoughts are with Milosky’s friends and particularly with his wife and daughters.
Craig Elmer “Owl” Chapman didn’t like his profile in The Surfer’s Journal so he sued. Now a federal court in Honolulu has decided that The Surfer’s Journal profile written by Jeff Johnson was not libelous, according to a story in Pacific Business News.
