Where is the New Journalism
Pitchfork Feature: Column: Get That Out of Your Mouth #27:
Column: Get That Out of Your Mouth #27 The Next Gonzo Journalism Column by Chris Dahlen I keep hearing the same gripe from the critics of the critics of pop culture: Today’s writers eat it. Nobody knows how to cover music, or movies, or video games, or any of the other media that matter. We need someone to swoop in and save us: We need a new Lester Bangs, or a new Hunter S. Thompson– one of those guys who made criticism and alternative journalism seem so vital back in the 1960s and 70s. Where they hell did they go?
Interesting article on the current state of writing and journalism. The problem with asking “where is the next gonzo writer?” is that you can not “teach” gonzo, hell. i’m not even sure you can use the term. I can see New Journalism, maybe Alternative Journalism, being used. But even these are similiar to a newer concept of Citizen Journalism. True, Hunter was a journalist, but far from the traditional sense. I feel that its more an issue of, you have it, or you don’t. Sure, writing can be taught, even well. But “gonzo” is personal, it has to come from both the teaching, and something inside of you, which is why alternative journalism can have so many interesting styles.
[tags] journalism, writing [/tags]
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