Following last week’s nothing-short-of conversation-starting readers poll that named Nirvana as one of the worst bands of the 90s, Rolling Stone have cracked out another shocker, naming Gus Wenner – the young son of the magazine’s co-founder and owner Jann Wenner – the head of Rollingstone.com, causing a media backlash from industry professionals and journalists.
On Monday, Jann Wenner sent an email out to Rolling Stone staff, notifying them of the new appointment, saying he and David Kang (Wenner Media’s chief digital officer) were “very pleased —and I am very proud —to announce that Gus Wenner, after leading the re-launch re-design effort for our website, will now continue by heading up the overall operations of RollingStone.com.”
Gus (that’s Edward Augustus Wenner to you), is 22 years old, fresh out of college, and up to now was best known for his alt-country creations with Scout Willis (the daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis). The young Gus Wenner has worked at Rolling Stone, but only for a about six months as a contributor to one of the world’s most recognisable music publications, and now the youth is the “director” of the website (but not officially the Editor In Chief).
Wenner Jr is Twitter-free, suggesting he has limited comprehension of exactly what heading up the online component of this magazine entails. That is: website editorial, advertising, and, you guessed it – social media management.
But Jann Wenner seems eager to nip somewhat expected allegations of nepotism in the bud, saying of his son to the The Daily Mail, “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.” “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.” – Jann Wenner, Rolling Stone
According to the International Business Times, Rolling Stone’s Jann Wenner is reputed to be worth over US$ 700 million as the owner of Wenner Media (the umbrella company that looks after publications US Weekly, Men’s Journal and Family Life). The father of three (to ex-wife Jane), says Gus was, “the one who showed the most promise.”
While the new fresh-faced manager may not be Twitt-savvy, the scathing commentary are already flowing on the social network, with national affairs reporter for Talking Points Memo, Jeremy Hunter writing: “this Gus Wenner thing is really, really gross,” linking to Gawker on the controversial move, while Time Out Sydney tweeted: “Jann Wenner just made son Gus, 22, editor of http://rollingstone.com . Pffft: we’re looking for an under-13 editor.”
Jann himself launched Rolling Stone when he was a mere 21 years old, so perhaps there’s some desire to prove he knows the immense capacity of some young people (the key word being ‘some’) and support their endeavours, but when reputable and highly popular writers such as Rolling Stone contributing editor Matt Taibbi, author of five books and winner of the US National Magazine Award for commentary don’t get a look in, something’s gotta give.
Speaking of staff, according to the International Business Times, Wenner Media have laid off many employees in the past year, and one anonymous layoff was quick to come forward and comment on the scrutinised handover.
The source suggested that Wenner media was, despite its enormity and profile, after all, a family business, and that the new appointment should not come as a surprise. “A lot of it is about finding people that Jann can trust. So if one of those people is going to be Gus, that makes sense for Jann and it makes sense for the company,” said the anonymous source. But “of course, it’s nepotism,” they continued. “Nobody else would ever hire Gus to run a website.”
But Wenner Snr has continued to defend his decision, saying in an interview with Ad Week that his 22-year-old son is “smarter than I am. 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,” he said proudly.
“He’s grown up around me and the company. But there’s an inborn level of maturity and intelligence and smartness and ambition… trust me, he’s a lot better trained and educated. His judgment is a lot better. I just had this one big idea,” father Wenner concluded.
Rolling Stone Australia is, for now, unaffected by the questionable change to those “heading up operations,” and recently announced that an exhibition will be held to celebrate the famed magazine covers from 1972 to 2010. The exhibition, simply titled Rolling Stone: The Covers, is currently on show at the Yarra Ranges Regional Museum in Lilydale until 7th July this year. It will display 150 of the magazine’s covers spanning over 40 years.
