When Rolling Stone’s Stephen Rodrick wrote his August cover piece fawning over Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau, he was likely anticipating some backlash from right-of-centre readers. What he was likely not expecting, was an international response over heavy-handed comparisons to US President Donald Trump, corrections on easily avoided mistakes about Canada, and reactions to awkward descriptors of Canada’s young leader.
Outlets were quick to cover the developing story, with over 200 online articles on the topic the very next day. Most noted Trudeau’s progressive credentials, while others thought Rodrick, at times, sounded less journalistic and more fan-boy. Across the spectrum, however, most seemed to agree with the Toronto Star’s assertion that the article “gazes fondly, but not deeply, at Justin Trudeau.”
Beside the fact that Trump’s name was mentioned 18 times in a piece about the Canadian Prime Minister, what caught our eye at Agility PR Solutions was the rapid and widespread response to the article. In the two days following the article’s release, nearly 15 percent of social media mentions of the story were generated outside of Canada and United States, with 46 tweets from Japan alone.
Here’s the distribution of international social media coverage mentioning the August cover story:
Online news coverage in the U.S. was evenly spread, with concentration noted in Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, and California, and driven largely by syndicated articles from CNN and Associated Press.
And some of our favourite tweets from around the globe…
The only way the Conservatives could be madder is if Trudeau was at a Pride parade French kissing Omar Khadr on the cover of Rolling Stone.
— Stephen Lautens (@stephenlautens) July 26, 2017
(Originated in Canada; retweeted in Germany.)
Justin Trudeau Rolling Stone Cover Is Brought To You By Desperate Times In America https://t.co/p2YOu6IGkq
— Sulin Ho (@hossieho) July 27, 2017
(Originated in Australia.)
“His words are coherent and will not need to be run through Google Translate…”
トルドーさん、「言葉に一貫性があってグーグル翻訳が必要がない」っていいなあ。アメリカ人も大統領にしたがってるって記事。 https://t.co/Zdvy8c8wll— ターラ (@Taaara1205) July 27, 2017
(Originated in Japan.)
We Are Living in the Golden Age of Thirst Journalism https://t.co/lEjWzd7TqQ pic.twitter.com/9CmQay1pHV
— Pahlavi Ltd (@PahlaviLondon) July 26, 2017
(Originated in the U.K.; retweeted in Japan.)
Is this sponsored content? https://t.co/9TRmem7OZK
— Ryan McMahon (@RMComedy) July 26, 2017
And lastly, from the author himself:
Man, don’t tell all these angry Canadians that I’m moving to Vancouver in January!
— Stephen Rodrick (@stephenrodrick) July 26, 2017
