Gonzo journalism
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Gonzo journalism is a style of reporting that mixes fiction and factual journalism. It uses a highly subjective style that often includes the reporter as part of the story via a first person narrative and events can be exaggerated in order to emphasize the underlying message.
The word gonzo was first used to describe a 1970 story written by Hunter S. Thompson, who later popularized the style. The term has since been applied in kind to other highly subjective artistic endeavors.
Gonzo journalism tends to favor style over accuracy and often uses personal experiences and emotions to provide context for the topic or event being covered. It disregards the 'polished' edited product favored by newspaper media and strives for the gritty factor. Use of quotes, sarcasm, humor, exaggeration, and even profanity is common. The use of Gonzo journalism portends that journalism can be truthful without striving for objectivity and is loosely equivalent to an editorial.
Other writers who have worked in "gonzo" mode include Jordan Kobos, William Godwin, and Matt Taibbi.
Gonzo journalism can be seen as an offshoot of the New Journalism movement in the sixties, led primarily by Tom Wolfe, and also championed by Lester Bangs and George Plimpton.
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[edit] History of the Term
The term gonzo was first applied to Thompson's writing in 1970 by Bill Cardoso, a Boston Globe editor, after he read Thompson's The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved written for the June 1970 Scanlan's Monthly and illustrated by the Welsh cartoonist Ralph Steadman. As the deadline approached, and with his article still not done, Thompson resorted to sending the editors pages ripped out of his notebook which contributed to the highly subjective style.
Cardoso claimed the word had originated with the Irish in South Boston to describe the last man standing at the end of an all-night drinking marathon. "Gonzo" may derive from gonzagas, an Italian word meaning absurdities. Bill Cardoso claimed it was a corruption of the French Canadian word "gonzeaux" which means "shining path," although this fact is often disputed.[1]
[edit] Hunter S. Thompson
Thompson based his style on William Faulkner's idea that "the fiction is often the best fact." While the things that Thompson writes about are basically true, he uses satirical devices to drive his points home. Thompson often wrote about recreational drug and alcohol use which added additional subjective flair to his reporting.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream followed the Kentucky Derby piece in 1971 and included a main character by the name of Dr. Gonzo. Although this book is considered to be a prime example of gonzo journalism, Thompson said that it was a failed experiment. He had intended it to be a record of everything he did as it happened, unedited. However, he ended up editing the book five times before it was published[citation needed].
Historian Douglas Brinkley said gonzo journalism requires virtually no rewriting and frequently uses transcribed interviews and verbatim telephone conversations[citation needed].
"I don't get any satisfaction out of the old traditional journalist's view—'I just covered the story. I just gave it a balanced view,'" Thompson said in an interview for the online edition of The Atlantic. "Objective journalism is one of the main reasons American politics has been allowed to be so corrupt for so long. You can't be objective about Nixon."
[edit] See also
- Gonzo
- Gonzo photography
- New Journalism
- "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved", first incarnation of a gonzo article
- The eXile
