Talk:New Journalism

Hunter S. Thompson

The article's only-in-passing mention of HST, and then, with Nocera's ridiculous citing of him as the killer of the genre, is revisionist history at its worst.

Ridiculous because Nocera, like anyone serious about journalism, knows that the genre existed long before and has continued to exist long since its purported birth and death, respectively. Wolfe's heralded "new" genre was really little more than the public awakening, thanks to mass media, to the talents of a new generation of talented writers all at approximately the same time - specifically, the moment when a new generation was taking the reins from the old.

Creative, groundbreaking chroniclers of life have done down through history what this group did, but if we're going to label this group as "the New Journalists" of the 20th Century, omitting Thompson is an exercise in revisionist history. Though his widest-read works were purposely (and purposefully) cartoonish and silly, readers of "Hell's Angels (1967)," "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved (1970)," and especially "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72," know that his ability to contextualize current events within the broader American experience was without peer.

The latter, in particular, dissects - through the story of Democrats' blowing what should have been a sure thing, the election of George McGovern - the American left's unrivaled cluelessness around effective political messaging, and its regular, reliable convening of its "big tent" circular shooting squad, the source of the mixed messaging the party creates. He presciently concludes: "There is really no hope of accomplishing anything genuinely new or different in American politics until the Democratic Party is done away with."

In short, Thompson clearly saw that the left's ineptitude would fuel the rise of the right - and where that would lead - at a time when other "New Journalists" were more concerned with naval-gazing themselves into their works. 71.210.71.94 (talk) 11:16, 27 February 2025 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Media Criticism

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 23 September 2025 and 31 January 2026. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Mollysiegel (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Isthisgabe.

— Assignment last updated by Isthisgabe (talk) 18:26, 18 December 2025 (UTC)