Gonzo: The Unique, Immersive Journalism Style and its Impacts Today

Even in a standard issue of these very pages of OFM, you’ll typically find a collection of different styles of journalism and literary works, from columns, investigative pieces, and features to poetry.  This issue, we’re giving extra attention to one style of journalism that’s proven to be highly influential in the realm of culture and media as a whole: gonzo journalism.

Gonzo journalism features the author as the main protagonist, inserting them fully into the story as the main character experiencing the action. It’s through their portrayal of events, from their own lens, in which readers discover the information being conveyed. These stories are often presented through a lens of social- and self-critique, with the writer’s personality and their subjective truths often proving to be more important than the actual “facts” of the story. This also often leads to an exaggerated or profane aspect to the writing, and the tone and style might also embrace humor and sarcasm.

It’s hard to bring up gonzo journalism without talking about Hunter S. Thompson, who is credited as the founder of gonzo journalism and best known for his most famous book, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The 1971 book displays Thompson’s highly subjective blend of fact and fiction, as the protagonist, Raoul Duke, and his attorney, Dr. Gonzo, descend on Las Vegas in pursuit of the American dream, all the while navigating through a drug-induced haze and reflecting on the failures of the 1960s’ counter-cultural movement.

In addition to Fear and Loathing, Thompson’s first published book, Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, helps to show the importance of gonzo journalism in portraying the bigger picture, with gonzo journalism often diving further into specific spaces and cultures to paint a broader picture and better understanding of its subjects. The book features an up-close and raw look at the Hells Angels motorcycle club during a time when the gang was highly feared and had been accused of numerous crimes.

The 2015 Guardian article “Why gonzo journalism is crucial to our understanding of cities and their tribes” discusses this specific and profound impact of gonzo journalism. Author Bradley L. Garrett references that today’s news cycle, or even with multiple points of view through streamed footage and smartphones, often risks stories being boiled down to the most spectacular components, like a Hollywood film.

Rather, Garrett says gonzo journalism helps people to understand the nuances of deep-rooted conflicts and cultures, especially relevant today in the coverage of police work, protests, and social issues. Garrett says the best kind of
socially engaged journalism “is rooted in participation, spiked with empathy, and resists being reduced to spectator fodder.”

And there’s a reason why gonzo journalism isn’t standard: Immersing oneself into another space, especially one that has the potential for violence or conflict, can be inherently dangerous. When Hell’s Angels first came out, the New York Times described Thompson’s portrayal as “a world most of us would never dare encounter.”

Garrett also notes that going into a story head-first as a journalist can cause one to lose sense of the broader picture, and that staying in a space for too long might mean a journalist changes based on their experiences. Though, as noted above, that’s part of the point.

That’s not to say bringing subjective experiences to stories doesn’t come with its share of problems. As we mention Thompson, it’s well worth noting that he was considered and often appeared homophobic. One account from a Rolling Stone editorial assistant named Tobias Perse, who was helping Thompson with his story on polo, recounts that he suffered through Thompson’s “rages” for months, resulting in Perse’s inclusion in the story as a sort of creepy, simple-minded character whom he nicknamed Queerbait, despite Perse’s protests.

“He had been writing me into the polo story as a character, and that character went from being kind of fierce—beating people with golf clubs and that sort of thing—to being introduced like this: ‘The magazine sent me an assistant, a tall, jittery young man. He said, “My name is Tobias, but my friends call me Queerbait.”’ Over four months, I cut Queerbait every time I sent it back to him, and every time, he’d change it back. I finally had it cut in the copy department just before we closed the issue,” Perse recalls.

E. Jean Carroll’s biography also details Thompson’s troubled relationship with his gay brother, whom Thompson refused to visit when he was dying of AIDS, along with his queer-bashing and wife-beating. Reading some of his material, it’s also clear that some of the content he discusses and potentially participated in is problematic, though one could argue that once again harkens back to the purpose of gonzo journalism—It’s not necessarily supposed to be pretty, and it can be just as homophobic and misogynstic as the subject behind the pages. The bias—no matter how ugly—can be, and often is, part of the bigger story.

Collaborators widely found Thompson to be insufferable and very difficult to work with. In discussions of his legacy, critics note the act of centering oneself as the “main character,” propping up one’s voice and perspective as invaluable and crucial to the greater work, touting “authenticity” and one’s own public persona, can lead to this unappealing demeanor Thompson is known for.

And many have argued that gonzo journalism today has shifted and doesn’t necessarily follow some of the same patterns and principles that Thompson adhered to. One 2020 editorial from Norfolk Daily News, “Gonzo journalism practiced now more than ever, but without a name,” argues exactly what the title suggests. 

It references the work of TV broadcasters like Jim Acosta of CNN and Sean Hannity of Fox News, as Acosta “likes to make himself part of the story at press conferences” during Trump’s presidency, rambling and trying to “score political points before asking a question.” It references Hannity’s Trump features, where he avoids asking tough questions to instead list the president’s talking points.

The editorial also references that many news outlets have increasingly editorialized in news stories and lean heavily on biases. 

Even specialty publications like OFM aren’t immune to this truth. As journalists, we’ll always aim to report the news as objectively as we can, though we make it no secret that we are queer AF and don’t tolerate queerphobia or transphobia; we stand by women, against misogyny, and for reproductive healthcare access; and we will continue to stand up for BIPOC folks and against white supremacy. Inherently, those truths are going to tell you a bit about the content we cover and the tone we’ll carry.

Though, of course, this is maybe an adjacent conversation, not gonzo journalism itself. Today, it might not even be called gonzo, as some favor the adjacent term “immersion journalism,” which can be seen in modern-day examples like Super Size Me, various offerings from VICE, and podcasts like This American Life.

Critics will argue that the writer’s credibility and neutrality weakens when they partake in this type of journalism, and it’s also not always the most practical in execution, given our 24/7 news cycle and expectations for immediacy. Though, it’s tough to refute that we will learn something if we take some time to fully dive into a space or culture that we otherwise might limit to a quick sound bite or news blurb touting the flashiest highlights.

Photographs Courtesy of Julius Garrido