What is Gonzo?

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What is Gonzo Journalism? This is a question that will continue to be asked, and has been asked since the first time it was uttered. Gonzo journalism was invented by the esteemed, larger than life, writer, politician, journalist, hells angel Hunter S. Thompson. According to hunter he came up with the term “on the campaign trail when he was being asked advice on what one of the candidates should do” (BBC Interview-1977) According to Thompson, Gonzo Journalism is “the way to find the truth. The reporters outlet to find what really happened.” (BBC interview-1977). To you and I, Gonzo journalism is a phrase created out of the mind of a reporter, and a man who created it to such a degree that it even has its own symbol: An upraised fist with two thumbs and a poppy flower in the palm. Only Hunter truly knew what all the symbols and meanings to that symbol were, but it is undeniable that he did create a revolutionary new way of reporting.

When a reporter goes out to cover a story he becomes an observer, a recorder if you will. In fact the movie camera is the best reporter there is, because it just records. That is what the reporter is suppose to do, record the action as it happened. Get both sides of every story. Interview the alleged good guy, and explain why he is doing what he is doing. Then interview the alleged bad guy, and explain why he is doing what he is doing. Explain each person’s contention with the other. Get an outside party that is not the reporter to comment on the whole situation. Then present it in a clean concise way so that a 6th grader could understand it all. That is normal true journalism.

The Gonzo Journalist goes out to cover a story. He looks at the story he is told to cover and questions why the story is needed to be covered. He creates this question to ponder, but not to answer himself. The Gonzo journalist sees that there is a bigger picture that the stories represent. In addition to this, the gonzo journalist also doesn’t just sit in the back of the room and observe. The gonzo journalist is in the story itself. The Gonzo journalist is experiencing the story, and living the story, and breathing the story. As he is doing and experiencing, he is writing about what is going on around him in true first person reporting. In the end, he would use his feelings to answer the bigger connective questions, while pointing out all the facts and the facts of what he had experienced.

If there was a story about a fire in a building. The journalist would capture the facts of the fire. Then he would interview the firefighters, the investigators, and a few people in the crowd. He would string together these facts explaining what had happened. The Gonzo Journalist would dawn a hat, a hose, and an axe and go into the building to help the firefighters. He would record what it was like in the building. What the firefighters were like, and what they were doing. He point out the reality of the fire, and the reality of what it was like to be in the fire. Then in the end, he would ponder if everything that just happened was truly needed to happen. Did those people deserve to die? Were the firefighters truly helping? Why does a firefighter do what he does?

The quintessential Gonzo journalist example is a novel by Hunter S. Thompson called Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, where the journalist Raoul Duke tries to understand where the great American Dream died and if it could come back. Another example by the same Author is Fear and Loathing on the Campaign trail.

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