Hunter S. Thompson died Sunday night at the age of 67. His death, a suicide, came as a surprise to many of his family and friends, The Associated Press reports. Regardless of the shock, his suicide does not serve justice to his accomplishment in establishing a controversial form of reporting.
Thompson is best known for his 1971 release,"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream," which later saw a film-adaptation staring Johnny Depp.
More importantly, though, Thompson was known for his role in pioneering gonzo journalism, a form of journalism which is known for putting the writer central to the story. While some have described it as a super-subjective form of reporting, it still had a particularly fond following.
Thompson had a way of crafting together words in a way that would not exactly depict reality but would fall short of being called fiction.
It involved an extremely personal account of the situation seen through the eyes of one who had experienced it. Some consider it getting too close to the story, while others argue its the only way to report truthfully on the story.
Gonzo journalism is based on William Faulkner's idea that "the fiction is often the best fact," according to Gonzo.org. The site also mentions that gonzo is "characterized by the use of quotes, sarcasm, humor, exaggeration and profanity." Up until his death, Thompson was still recognized for his work in "Rolling Stone" and, as of late, ESPN.com's Page Two, where he wrote a column called "Hey Rube."
In a day and age when media outlets fear the regulatory hand of the Federal Communications Commission and when bloggers pick apart and fact-check every last inch of a mainstream medium's story, it is saddening to see the father of this raw, interesting form of story-telling journalism disappear.
As Thompson himself once said, "With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results, and stock market tabulations, there is no such thing as objective journalism. The phrase itself is a pompous contradiction in terms."
Despite what one might feel about Thompson and his form of not-so-factual journalism, it goes without saying that he was one of a kind.
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