Gonzo journalism is a style ofjournalism that is written without claims ofobjectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story using afirst-person narrative. The word "gonzo" is believed to have been first used in 1970 to describean article about the Kentucky Derby byHunter S. Thompson, who popularized the style. It is an energetic first-person participatory writing style in which the author is aprotagonist, and it draws its power from a combination ofsocial critique and self-satire.[1] It has since been applied to othersubjective artistic endeavors.
Gonzo journalism involves an approach to accuracy that concerns the reporting of personal experiences and emotions, in contrast to traditional journalism, which favors a detached style and relies on facts orquotations that can be verified by third parties. Gonzo journalism disregards the strictly edited product once favored by newspaper media and strives for a more personal approach; the personality of a piece is as important as the event or actual subject of the piece. Use ofsarcasm,humour, exaggeration, andprofanity is common.
Thompson, who was among the forefathers of theNew Journalism movement, said in the February 15, 1973, issue ofRolling Stone, "If I'd written the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people—including me—would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism."[2]
The termgonzo was first used in connection withHunter S. Thompson byThe Boston Globe magazine editorBill Cardoso in 1970. He described Thompson's article "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved", which was written for the June 1970 edition ofScanlan's Monthly, as "pure Gonzo journalism".[3] This predates the December 1970 debut of the MuppetGonzo inThe Great Santa Claus Switch.[4] Cardoso saidgonzo wasSouth Boston Irish slang describing the last man standing after an all-night drinking marathon.[5] He also said it was a corruption of theCanadian French wordgonzeaux, which means'shining path', although this is disputed.[6]
Another speculation is that the word may have been inspired by the 1960 hit song "Gonzo" by therhythm and blues pianistJames Booker. This possibility is supported by a 2007 oral biography of Thompson, which states that the term is taken from a song by Booker[7] but does not explain why Thompson or Cardoso would have chosen the term to describe Thompson's journalism. The 2013 documentaryBayou Maharaja: The Tragic Genius of James Booker[8] quotes Thompson's literary executor as saying that the song was the origin of the term.[9] According to a Greg Johnson biographical note on Booker,[10] the song title "Gonzo" comes from a character in a movie calledThe Pusher,[11] which in turn may have been inspired by a 1956Evan Hunter novel of the same title.
In 2025,David S. Wills, author ofHigh White Notes: The Rise and Fall of Gonzo Journalism, investigated the origins of the word "gonzo" and discovered that Cardoso had found it in an article he had edited forTheBoston Globe Sunday Magazine just a week prior to calling Thompson's story "pure Gonzo journalism."[12] The article was about countercultural iconBaba Ram Dass and "gonzo" was used "with the context suggesting 'going wild' or 'losing control' on a hallucinogenic substance." The original article said that Dass "smoked pot and went gonzo onSTP, the most powerful hallucinogenic ever concocted."[13]
Thompson based his style onWilliam Faulkner's notion that "fiction is often the best fact".[14] While the things that Thompson wrote about are basically true, he used satirical devices to drive his points home. He often wrote aboutrecreational drugs andalcohol use, which added subjective flair to his reporting. The term "gonzo" has also come into (sometimespejorative) use to describe journalism in Thompson's style, characterized by a drug-fueledstream of consciousness writing technique.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas followed theMint 400 piece in 1971 and included a main character by the name ofRaoul Duke, accompanied by his attorney, Dr. Gonzo, with defining art byRalph Steadman. Although this book is considered a prime example of gonzo journalism, Thompson regarded it as a failed experiment.[15] He had intended it to be an unedited record of everything he did as it happened, but he edited the book five times before publication.
Thompson would instigate events himself, often in aprankish or belligerent manner, and then document both his actions and those of others. Notoriously neglectful of deadlines, Thompson often annoyed his editors because he submitted articles late, "too late to be edited, yet still in time for the printer".[16] Thompson wanted his work to be read as he wrote it, in its "true Gonzo" form. HistorianDouglas Brinkley said gonzo journalism requires virtually no rewriting and frequently uses transcribed interviews and verbatim telephone conversations.[17]
"I don't get any satisfaction out of the old traditional journalist's view: 'I just covered the story. I just gave it a balanced view,'" Thompson said in an interview for the online edition ofThe Atlantic. "Objective journalism is one of the main reasons Americanpolitics has been allowed to be so corrupt for so long. You can't be objective aboutNixon."[18]
The Gonzo Studies Society proposes eleven features that, to varying degrees, are included in Hunter S. Thompson's Gonzo journalism:
Thompson felt thatobjectivity in journalism was a myth. Gonzo journalism has now become abona fide style of writing that is similar to theNew Journalism of the 1960s, led primarily byTom Wolfe and also championed byLester Bangs,George Plimpton,Terry Southern, andJohn Birmingham, and is considered a subgenre of New Journalism.[20][21] When asked whether there was a difference between the two, Thompson answered, "Yeah, I think so. Unlike Tom Wolfe orGay Talese, for instance, I almost never try to reconstruct a story. They're both much better reporters than I am, but then I don't really think of myself as a reporter."[22]
In 1998,Christopher Locke asserted that thewebzine genre is descended from gonzo journalism,[23] a claim that has since been extended tosocial media.[24] Thompson's gonzo journalism influence is reflected in the current websiteGonzo Today which features a top banner by Thompson's longtime illustrator Ralph Steadman, with rotating contributions by others including Thompson associate, poetRon Whitehead.
It has been claimed that Thai writerRong Wongsawan wrote in a style that was Gonzo, beginning in the 1960s when he reported from San Francisco. However he wrote in Thai, and he probably developed the style independently of Hunter S. Thompson. He also used the style in his booksSattahip andTakli which describe American soldiers and Thai bar girls during the Vietnam War.[25] His bookThe Man from Bangkok: San Francisco Culture in the 60s is an English translation of a book published in Thai in 1978.[26]
Jesse Jarnow states the main parts of Gonzo journalism are total subjectivity and the first/best draft mentality.[27] This mentality is described by William McKeen, a journalism professor at Boston University and author ofOutlaw Journalist: The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson, as where the journalist does “virtually no rewriting”.[28] He adds that everything within the reporting process is documented, including: notes, interviews, transcribed telephone conversations, telegrams, etc.[29] Jason Mosser states that Gonzo journalism is unique in the way that it places the narrator as the center of the story. Still, gonzo journalism relies primarily on being grounded in the truth.[30]
Thompson believed primarily in all of these aspects of Gonzo journalism; however, he was also quoted as sharing a similar affinity with George Orwell of making political writing into art. Thompson’s style of writing relied heavily on verb-driven syntax along with metaphors, allusions, ellipsis and more. Critics essay this was used to create feelings of despair, degradation, and desperation within his narrators.[31]
Millar is an example of gonzo journalism outside of the United States. Millar is a Uzbekistan television news program. As of September 2025, the program has 27,500 subscribers on YouTube.[32] Though the television is regarded as slightly controversial due to its usage of sensationalism and staged footage, scholars in the field regard it as partially fitting the category of Gonzo journalism.[33] Scholars argue the program counts as Gonzo journalism because of the subjective tone, perspectives of those involved, and internal coverage.[34]
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