Why I Would Do My Journalism Internship with Hunter S. Thompson Through an Ouija Board:
Albeit a morbid thought, I wouldn’t mind doing my internship through an Ouija board, extracting journalistic wisdom from the great late Hunter S. Thompson.
Why you ask? Besides being ridiculously obvious, the reasons are fourfold:
1. Call me a rebel, but I long to feel as if I am a part of that journalistic gonzo movement where one didn’t have to follow the inverted pyramid, the nut graph or any of the other constraints and rules that apply to journalism today. The fact is that today, a Hunter S. Thompson style journalist just couldn’t exist. Your editor would can you so fast your head would spin. Can one imagine writing something like this (courtesy of The Great Shark Hunt pg 295 Gonzo Papers Volume 1) in a political story, or column... “ There is not much doubt, on the numbers question, that at least 20 of the 100 senators will not vote to convict Nixon under ANY circumstances... unless he violates that old law of Indiana politics about being “found in bed with either a live man or a dead woman.” Nixon is not one of your more vulnerable politicians in this area. It is difficult, in fact, to imagine him being in bed at all- and especially not with anything human.”
2. The sense of adventure that was alive when you actually had to search for a story “on foot” so to speak and not on your couch perusing the internet speaks to my journalistic soul. Being a part of the story, as Hunter usually was appeals greatly. How to better tell a story then by actually actively participating in it. Although, later in life after fame set in, because of his notoriety Hunter actually said it is easier to write a story if you can observe without being noticed (and he was noticed mostly because of his celebrity). I believe that in his writing because he was IN on the action, and observed at the same time, he brought a unique and very much “alive” perspective in any article that he wrote.
An interview where Thompson speaks about how being recognizable makes it difficult to write:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvcJc2RNTVE&feature=related
3. I am sure that any lesson he would teach me would involve an element of fear. The call to explore and observe and write and take photographs is one that involves stepping out of the realm of normalcy. It involves making contact with people that you don’t really feel comfortable speaking to, and sometimes even getting in someone’s face and snapping a photo. This element of being scared and doing it anyways is really important in journalism (so says John Ulan) and this stepping out of one’s comfort zone would be best taught by a gun wielding and alcohol-induced Hunter S. Thompson. It would be a crash course.
4. Hunter S. Thompson wrote with opinion, he wrote with passion, and I am sure he wrote with many opiates, but overall, he wrote with creativity. He was a journalist who was well informed, wasn’t afraid to ask questions or look stupid. And he wrote things that were funny, things that were honest, and I’m pretty sure a bunch of things that weren’t exactly completely true (which I don’t condone), but if print journalists wrote like that today, I don’t think that there is a journalism student who would not pick up the newspaper.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvcJc2RNTVE&feature=related
3. I am sure that any lesson he would teach me would involve an element of fear. The call to explore and observe and write and take photographs is one that involves stepping out of the realm of normalcy. It involves making contact with people that you don’t really feel comfortable speaking to, and sometimes even getting in someone’s face and snapping a photo. This element of being scared and doing it anyways is really important in journalism (so says John Ulan) and this stepping out of one’s comfort zone would be best taught by a gun wielding and alcohol-induced Hunter S. Thompson. It would be a crash course.
4. Hunter S. Thompson wrote with opinion, he wrote with passion, and I am sure he wrote with many opiates, but overall, he wrote with creativity. He was a journalist who was well informed, wasn’t afraid to ask questions or look stupid. And he wrote things that were funny, things that were honest, and I’m pretty sure a bunch of things that weren’t exactly completely true (which I don’t condone), but if print journalists wrote like that today, I don’t think that there is a journalism student who would not pick up the newspaper.
You have to love the man's writing.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it is impossible to write Gonzo style writing in today's journalism world. You're definitely right that you wouldn't get away with it at any mainstream news agencies, though. Especially for entry-level journalists, there is a particular formula that must be followed when writing news articles.
But there must be some Internet based sites that have decent readership and allow a more loose style of writing. With that said, it would be much harder to get noticed on a site like that. Everyone wants to stick out these days.