American Manhunt: What Netflix’s Boston Marathon Bombing Doc Leaves Out

Dramatizing events in a real life case for a documentary audience is nothing new, nor is there anything inherently sinister about it. I just wish that, in its mission to create the most definitive and accurate version of the Boston Marathon bombing and subsequent manhunt possible, American Manhunt opted for something less flashy and misleading instead.

The Controversial Rolling Stone Cover

American Manhunt ends its narrative shortly after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is taken into custody before fading into the traditional “here’s what happened next to everyone involved” documentary text. One thing that’s left out from this time frame is a controversial magazine cover that led to some interesting conversations and reflections upon how media should cover mass murderers and terrorists.

In the August 2013 issue of Rolling Stone, the magazine’s cover story was about Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, his upbringing, and how he was influenced by his brother into religious extremism and violence. The story itself was well received but many took issue to Tsarnaev’s appearance on the cover. Critics contended that the photograph, taken by Tsarnaev himself, cast the mass murderer in too sympathetic a light and that he resembled a movie star more than a criminal. Take a look below to see if you agree.

Some retailers like CVS and BJ’s Wholesale Club announced that they would not carry the issue, which did little to stop it from becoming one of the best selling single issues of a magazine that year. Rolling Stone‘s editorial team released a note defending the cover story saying that it “falls within the traditions of journalism and Rolling Stone‘s long-standing commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of our day.”

That statement, however, doesn’t fully contend with the issue most people had with it: the image. It might not be as apparent 10 years later, but magazine covers used to be synonymous with fame and popularity. The cover of Rolling Stone in particular was reserved only for the biggest stars pop culture has to offer. At the same time though, Rolling Stone also provided (and still provides) the occasional bit of high quality hard news journalism. Combining the typically “boring” and staid hard news feature with the perceived honor of a magazine cover was understandably hard for the average news consumer to reconcile.

Figuring out how to grab people’s attention about stories involving violent crime while still remaining objective and non-exploitative is a challenge that all media grapples with to this day. Thankfully, save for the occasional dramatized hiccup, American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing grapples with it quite well.