The New Journalism

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone. But they've always worked for me." - Hunter S. Thompson.

New Journalism, or 'Gonzo' Journalism is a style of writing and journalism founded in the 1960s/70s. During this period there is a generational change in popular culture in the USA. This change is realised in journalism with the shift to the literary movement of The New Journalism. The main point of this new form is the shift in form of narrtation from digetic to mimetic. 'Seeing' became the new 'telling' and objectivity is neglected in favour of subject experience. The movement was shaped by the two key figures of Hunter S. Thompson and Tom Wolfe, both of whom were influenced by the culture of drug taking at the time. For instance, Thompson's most well-known work Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas details an LSD fuelled trip to Las Vegas.

Gonzo Journalism has made the jump from paper to television with a large degree of success. This is mainly due to the fact it is ultimately 'performance journalism', where entertaining is of more importance than informing. Documentaries such as Super Size Me have appeared baring the forms and conventions of gonzo journalism, placing more focus on the journalist and his/her experiences rather than objective reporting.