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Great Gonzo
I understand the term gonzo journalism was coined by the late Hunter S. Thompson
and represents the art of immersing oneself in the story, enabling the
writer to “get into the minds” of his or her subjects.
But feel free to correct me if I'm wrong because, to be honest, I know little about this genre.
Thompson apparently did this (became part of his story) when he
befriended the Hell’s Angels, to the extent that they often used
to come to his place and he took part in their alcohol and drug binges.
All the while, the Angels knew he was a reporter.
It ended up with Thompson getting beat up by two Angels before he un-immersed himself.
Gonzo journalism is praised by many who feel “regular”
journalists don’t do enough to “get into the minds”
of their subjects, to see the world as they would see it.
True, gonzoism may partly succeed in this but it shouldn’t detract from the work of “regular” journalists.
A regular journalist is not meant to get into the minds of their subjects, at least I don’t think so.
Their job is to use their interviewing and writing skills so that their subjects can tell the readers about themselves.
I don’t believe anyone can truly get into the minds of others.
I’ve seen so many features and profiles where the writer uses
beautiful words and colour phrases from a vocabulary far superior to
mine to try and tell us what his or subject is thinking.
It reads well, but more often than not, it is far from the reality of how the newsmaker’s mind actually works.
German tennis great Boris Becker summed it up when he said about
journalists: “They think they know what I’m thinking.”
For me, I can’t say I ever knew what my subject was thinking. All
I knew was what he or she did or said. That’s all I’ve ever
had to work with.
Gonzo journalism definitely has a place in media. I don’t know
much about it so I can’t comment. It has its merits as does
“regular” journalism – the art of raw reporting.
At the end of the day (apart from getting dark), we are all reporters no matter how high we go up the newsroom hierarchy.
If we can’t report, we are not journalists.
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