:''"Gonzo" redirects here. For other uses, see Gonzo (disambiguation)''
right|thumbnail|A modification of one of the original Gonzo Flyers/Aspen Wallposters created with artist [[Thomas W. Benton (printmaker)|Tom Benton during Thompson's bid for sheriff of Aspen, Colorado.]]

'''Gonzo journalism''' is a style of article by Hunter S. Thompson, who later popularized the style. The term has since been applied to other subjective artistic endeavors.

Gonzo journalism tends to favor style over accuracy and often uses personal experiences and emotions to provide context for the topic or event being covered.  It disregards the 'polished' edited product favored by newspaper media and strives for the gritty factor. Use of quotations, objectivity and is loosely equivalent to an editorial.

==Origin of the term==
The term "Gonzo" in connection to Hunter S. Thompson was first used by ''Boston Globe'' magazine editor Hunter S. Thompson's ''Hirst, 2004, p.5.</ref>. Cardoso claimed that "gonzo" was Irish Thompson, 1997</ref>. Cardoso also claimed that it was a corruption of the French Canadian word "gonzeaux", which means "shining path",  although this is disputed<ref>Hirst, 2004, p.5.</ref>. In Italian, ''Gonzo'' is a common word for a gullible person, a "sucker" [http://www.dizionario-italiano.it/definizione-lemma.php?definizione=gonzo&lemma=G03CF400]. Another speculation is that the word may have been inspired by the 1960 hit song ''Gonzo'' by R&B keyboardist James Booker. This last possibility seems to be supported by the 2007 oral biography of Hunter S. Thompson where it is stated that the term "Gonzo" is taken from a hit song by James Booker . Yet this conclusion still says little of why Hunter Thompson or Bill Cardoso would use that word and not another. According to a Greg Johnson biographical note on James Booker [http://www.cascadeblues.org/History/JamesBooker.htm], the song title "Gonzo" comes from a 1960's character in a movie called ''The Pusher'' [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054219/ (IMDB page)]. The movie on the other hand seems to have been inspired by a 1956 Evan Hunter novel by the same title, so it remains a mystery who first used this word in American slang, and why.

==Hunter S. Thompson==

Thompson based his style on stream-of-consciousness technique.

''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream'' followed the Mint 400 piece in 1971 and included a main character by the name of Raoul Duke, accompanied by his attorney, Dr. Gonzo. Although this book is considered to be a prime example of gonzo journalism, Thompson said that it was a failed experiment. He had intended it to be an '''unedited''' record of everything he did as it happened, but he edited the book five times before it was eventually published.

Thompson would instigate events himself, often in a prankish or belligerent manner, and then document both his actions and those of others. Notoriously neglectful of deadlines, Thompson often  greatly annoyed his editors because he often faxed articles late, too late to be edited but just in time to make the printers. It is speculated that Thompson's work going to print unedited due to a late delivery was completely intentional. Thompson wanted his work to be read as he wrote it, in its "true gonzo" form.

"I don't get any satisfaction out of the old traditional journalist's view&mdash; 'I just covered the story. I just gave it a balanced view,'" Thompson said in an interview for the online edition of ''Nixon."

Historian Douglas Brinkley said gonzo journalism requires virtually no rewriting and frequently uses transcribed interviews and verbatim telephone conversations.

==Gonzo journalism by other authors== <!-- This heading probably needs to be renamed -->

Gonzo journalism can be seen as an offshoot of the New Journalism movement in the sixties, led primarily by Tom Wolfe, and also championed by Lester Bangs and George Plimpton.  It has largely been subsumed into Creative nonfiction.   The work of Greg Palast, however, is considered by many to be a revival of Gonzo journalism.

Gonzo also occurs when an objectivity in journalism was a myth. The term has now become a bona-fide style of writing that concerns itself with 'telling it like it is', not far from the New Journalism practiced by Tom Wolfe, Terry Southern and John Birmingham.

'''Gonzo''' é um estilo de narrativa em jornalismo, cinematografia ou qualquer outra produção de mídia em que o narrador abandona qualquer pretensão de objetividade e se mistura profundamente com a ação.

== Jornalismo gonzo ==
O originador do estilo foi o jornalista norte-americano Thompson. Segundo Cardoso, "gonzo" seria uma gíria irlandesa do sul de Boston para designar o último homem de pé após uma maratona de bebedeira.

O mais famoso texto gonzo é "''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas''" (literalmente "Medo e Delírio em Las Vegas", lançado no Brasil em 1984 pela editora Anima como "Las Vegas na Cabeça"), originalmente uma matéria sobre uma corrida no deserto, a Mint 400, encomendada pela revista Thompson gastou todo o dinheiro com drogas e álcool, fez enormes dívidas no hotel, destruiu quartos e fugiu sem pagar. Não cobriu o acontecimento e, no lugar da matéria que deveria escrever, descreveu o ambiente sob seu ponto de vista entorpecido e virou o precursor de um novo estilo jornalístico.

O '''jornalismo gonzo''' é por muitos nem considerado uma forma de jornalismo, devido à total parcialidade, falta de objetividade e pela não seriedade com que a notícia é tratada, fugindo a todas as regras básicas do jornalismo. O estilo vigora até os dias de hoje e ganha maior número de adeptos entre jovens, que se interessam pela narrativa literária de vivências e descobertas pessoais em situações extremas ou de transgressão. Se o jornalismo gonzo é ou não um modelo jornalístico, se é subjetivo demais ou se não é digno de crédito, são questões que permeiam o ambiente acadêmico.

== Outros escritores ==

O jornalismo gonzo pode ser considerado uma extensão do New Journalism de Tom Wolfe, Lester Bangs, e George Plimpton. Outros escritores que poderiam ser classificados como gonzo são P. J. O'Rourke e Timothy Edward Jones. Kurt Vonnegut pode ser considerado uma espécie de precursor do estilo.