Jon Krakauer's greatest publicity stunt

8/14/2019 Jon Krakauer's greatest publicity stunt

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SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 10:58AM

Krakauers publicity stut sc!res bi" #!r $%0 M& a'

Bylier

The Reliablility of Sources in Afghanistan/Pakistan

(Courtesy of Patricia P., and In Defense of Greg Mortenson, aone -act play)

Manipulating the Media

(it's easier than you think)

Time Line

Early in 2010, Krakauer claims to read the first 100 paes of Three

Cups of Tea.

!n "o#., 2011, he in#ites $cott %arsney to dinner and ne#er mentions

the &ortenson article, %arsney ne#er a#e him permission to print anythin

he said that niht. Krakauer mis'uotes him claimin &ortenson had lied

a(out clim(s he had (een on. %arsney refutes that.


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!n 2011, Krakauer meets ith editor &ark *ryant to discuss his

potential contri(utions to *yliner.com and the importance of sensational

launch story. +he launch is timed and it is areed to coincide ith 0

&inutes (roadcast. /e(ruary, 2011, Krakauer calls &ansur &ahsud in !slama(ad, Pakistan,

to inform him of his article, that he had (een defamed in &ortensons

(ooks, and encouraed him to sue &ortenson for li(el. The Guardian

newspaper, ondon)

3pril 14, 2011, Krakauer emails &ortenson i#in him 5 days to

respond. 63s ! (elie#e you ha#e knon for 'uite ahile no, ! am

ritin an article that shines a (riht liht on you and your

manaement of C3!...!f you ould like to respond to the material in my

article (efore pu(lication, time is roin #ery short.6

April 13 &ortenson as aaitin heart surery and Krakauer as

aare of that fact, as as 0 &inutes). !t had (een reported idely in

&ontana as he had to cancel speakin enaements due to his health.

3pril 17, 2011 0 &inutes (roadcasts !ts a *eautiful ie. 3!P

President %aniel *orochoff , &ansur &ahsud,and Krakauer ere

inter#ieed, (ut not $cott %arsney, nor any C3! (oard mem(ers, nor

as there any attempt to find or locate "aimat 8ul, ho &ortenson

claims duped him into an a(duction.

3pril 19, 2011, Krakauer stops i#in inter#ies.

3pril 19, 2011, &ansur &ahsud holds a orld-ide press conferenceand announces he is suin &ortenson for li(el. *I checked with the

District ourt in both !o"eman and #issoula in A$ril% #ay and

&une' To date% no lawsuit has been filed against (reg

#ortenson by anyone in Pakistan'

3pril 20, launch of *yliner.com, i#in aay 70,000 copies of 6+C%6 in

72 hours.

3pril 20, 2011, Three Cups of Teahad dropped off the NYTimes list

completely. :n &arch 14, TCTas ;t 8et +here from ?ere.6

ate 3pril, 2011, &ortenson i#es inter#ie to Outside Magazine.

ate 3pril, &ontana 38 $te#e *ullock announces in#estiation not

issued to date)

&ay 5, 2011, $cott %arsney i#es inter#ie to Outside Magazine.

&ay @, 2011, &ichelle Aeinhart files a class action suit in &issoula,

&ontana.

&ay , Krakauer refuses to anser 'uestions from outside reardin

his 'uote from $cott %arsney, &ortensons clim(in partner.

&ay 9, 20 11, Krakauer lea#es anry phone messae ith 3leB ?eard

atOutsideclaimin he as (iased in printin %arsney>s #ersion. ?eated


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emails folloed ith an areement that Krakauer is no loner affilliated

ith Outside Magazine.

"o nes on !nternet from middle of &ay until the middle of uly

uly 11, 2011, Dintae-3nchor announces the paper(ack #ersion

ofThree Cups Deceit. uly 15, 3!P President %aniel *orochof sends out press release 8re

&ortenson !s 3sked to Aesin /rom Charity (y atchdo

8roup.6 &ortenson has an actin director in place, 3nne *eyersdorfer.

on Krakauer pulled off one of the larest pu(licity stunts in in recent

memory last sprin in a coordinated effort (eteen ! Minutes ho

(y i#in the air date to Krakauer, ho in turn o(#iously relayed that

information to &ark *ryant so they could plan the date for pu(lishin +C% to

launch the e(site httpFGG.(yliner.comG. !t as total ?ollyood,

$omethin on>s (ecome accustomed to in the last fe years. ?e hiked in

ith $ean Penn to the death (us in 3laska here Chris &cCandlass died.

Krakauer further manipulated the timin of the no defunct li(el suit from

&ansur &ahsud, ho accordin to The Guardiannespaper, &ahsud said

Krakauer called him in !slama(ad in /e(ruary, 2011, to tell him a(out the

article, that his family had (een defamed and that he should sue &ortenson

for li(el.

Even with less than stellar ratings, they still did not jump at Jon Krakauers attack on

Greg ortenson! According to his "riend, and "ellow Outside Magazineeditor, ark#ryant, Krakauer, $%rought his initial "indings to 60 Minutes, thinking it %etter that a

third party look into the situation (*see note below), %ut continued his own research!

ryant said the show did not initially jump on the story %ut did, eventually, start

looking into Krakauer's claim and a %roadcast was ultimately scheduled! Krakauer,

who had done his own research, wanted to write something a"ter the show aired which

#ryant said would %e more informal than a book! (hen #ryant started talking to

Krakauer a%out a new project he was working on that would "eature long "orm

journalism, Krakauer o""ered up his piece on ortenson!)

httpFGG.pu(lisherseekly.comGpG(y-topicGindustry-

nesGpu(lisher-nesGarticleG5


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killed two %irds with one article, and hope"ully also nearly killed the goose, Greg

ortenson, whose %ooks were selling like golden eggs! *e, with #ryant's assisstance,

cooked up the se+uence o" events that resulted in killing o"" ortensons %ook sales!

+he hard(ack num(ers speak for themsel#esF 3ccordin

tohttpFGG.pu(lisherseekly.comGpG(y-topicGindustry-nesGfinancial-reportinGarticleG52@45-the-#ie-from-the-top.html , updated &arch 10, 2010F

&ortensons ne (ook,"tones into "choo#sF$romoting $eace with %oo&s Not

%om's,from Dikin Press, is listed at num(er < for (est sellin non-fiction

hardco#er (ooks, sellin @1@,@ copies in 200


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Krakauer announced he as donatin proceeds to $top 8irls +raffickin, an

arm of the 3merican ?imalayan !nstitution hich he is a mem(er. C:: of

*yliner.com +om *arnett said in an email F ! do ant to point out that free

copies ere distri(uted not to dri#e pu(licity for *yliner, (ut at &r. Krakauer>s

re'uest. on Krakauer anted to ensure that folks ho miht not (e a(le to(uy copies of 6+hree Cups of %eceit6 e.. readers ithout the means to

purchase the title, or ithout access to a Kindle e-reader) ould (e a(le to

donload a free copy (efore any sales (ean.6

6t %eggars %elie" that i" you were truly interested in helping the organi2ation $9top

Girls 5ra""icking) you would have given them A:: o" the proceeds! ;o the math

with me, Kindle %ooks charged !44 a"ter - hours, so !44 < -.,... =

.4,3..! A very generous donation!

*owever, according to Erica 9tone7

;ear s! >*ehir,

5hank you "or your interest!(e have no contract with Jon or %yliner ? Jons contract

is with %yliner and he has elected to give his proceeds "rom his %ook to our 95> Girl

tra""icking program! (e are the recipients o" his gi"t! 6t is 1.,... to date, sent as a

check "rom %yliner! 9ince the gi"t is speci"ically "or 95> Girl 5ra""icking, all o" it

will %e placed in a restricted "und and used only "or the program! >ur .11 audited

"inancials will re"lect that! 9omeone "rom %yliner will contact you as well!

All %est,

Erica 9toneresident American *imalayan @oundation

*ee +99 3om .arnett1s comments above! owever, this applied to the 0indle

eader, I have no information on whether or not they will continue to receive all

the funds from the paperback version of 3+4!

.$date After re0iewing the 1233 ++2 for Sto$ (irls

Trafficking% there is a line item for book royalties

which reads 425 on form' In an email to 6rica Stone

asking how much the charity had earned% she

re$lied 4&on has $aid all his ta7es'5 3hat wasn1t my

-uestion! ;hat it appears is that 73 received a small donationfrom the .yliner version, but 0rakauer is keeping the proceeds from

the hardback version! o much for his humanitarianism, using hisown charity to destroy another!


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Isn1t giving a nasty, nasty business

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Jon Krakauer's greatest publicity stunt