Search

The USA-based television program What Not To Wear (WNTW) was a staple of popular fashion media, informing audiences about acceptable modes of dress and appearance. We consider how aspects of this show and its accompanying book encompass features of traditional fashion reportage – particularly advice literature – and also approaches to fashion communication that overlap with the style and concerns of "New Journalism" (those modes of reporting – sometimes called "Gonzo" – that emphasize informality, emotional engagement, and an interest in "real" people and "real" lives). By examining the text, images, and talk deployed by the book and the TV show, we indicate how WNTW perceives, constructs, and conveys the fashioned subject in ways that link makeover media to broader contexts of cultural commentary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores the images emerging from the Syrian conflict through the genre of war documentaries by focusing on the performance of sovereignty. Drawing on Foucault’s notion of governmentality and Butler’s performative theory, the author looks at states as performative agents that stage power in front of the camera as a form of self-legitimisation. War documentaries are part of a documentary war in which image, information and emotional involvement have become weaponised. He assesses a few examples of religious and secular sovereignty performed for journalists who are embedded with various militias. This genre is brought about through cooperation between the embedded reporters (i.e. working inside an army or militia) and the fighters assigned to protect and show them around the territory they control. This results in a symbiotic relationship in which both sides co-produce a heavily mediated image of the war from the inside, one that satisfies the journalist’s desire for ‘exclusive access’ and the fighter’s desire for recognition. Such a representational pact contributes a unique feature to the war documentary genre in which the films show the raw reality of war as much they offer an opportunity to perform the state before the camera. From this perspective, the fighters appear not only as destroyers but as builders of a new order, thus complicating the image of the jihadi as an irrational, nihilistic and violent subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hunter S. Thompson’s “Gonzo Journalism” arguably brought a new style to popular and populist writing. In this piece, I emulate some of his style to show how it felt to attend a sports extravaganza, The X Games, in 1997. I mirror some of the sensory aspects of being a spectator at these games, and offer some insights on how alternative/extreme/lifestyle sports have collided with transnational corporate structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses objectives of the local news radio station PFRM in Indonesia including creating citizen journalism, expanding its social networks, and managing operational costs. Particular focus is given to the process of information supply by PFRM including gathering information through social media, use of participatory journalism, and defining the role of media in a civil society.

This study examines whether citizen journalists adhere to traditional journalistic norms when reporting. A nationwide survey and follow-up interviews with selected US citizen journalists showed they do consider traditional norms such as objectivity, gatekeeping, and balance to be very important. This is contrary to what some previous studies have found. Citizen journalists also indicated that both official and unofficial sources were integral to storytelling. This study's findings point to the need to examine further how citizen journalists incorporate traditional notions of journalism practice into their approaches to gathering and reporting news. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The US journalist Hunter S. Thompson became known in the Western world as the creator of the Gonzo Journalism in the 1970s. However, in Thompson's biography is possible to see the author studying methods and narrative techniques that were used in news coverage he did for magazines such as Rolling Stone and Playboy. Due to its irreverent style, sometimes cynic, the Thompson's character- pseudonym, Raoul Duke, came to life, becoming strips caricature of the Washington Post and starring three Hollywood productions. Thus, the paper analyzes how these products contributed the imaginary construction that today surrounds the figure of Hunter S. Thompson. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on open-ended responses to a representative survey of US journalists, this article examines how journalists’ role conceptions may be associated with distinct perceptions of and practices toward audiences, whether online or offline. In particular, this research considers the potential for more reciprocal, or mutually beneficial, interactions between journalists and audiences. Using exploratory factor analysis and normalized index scores, journalists are characterized within four role conceptions. Results show that Populist Mobilizer and Entertainment roles are more associated with digital audience engagement, while Loyal Support and Public Service roles better characterize offline interactions. Findings point to a need for better explanations of how journalists’ role conceptions connect with their engaging (or not) in more purposeful, persistent and reciprocal interactions with audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examines ‘participatory journalism’ from the perspective of participants. Through a series of in-depth interviews with 32 participants from two different participatory journalistic environments set up by professional news organizations, we investigated how participants view and evaluate their participation in journalism. We propose that participants views progress through a series of four stages: anticipation, participation, evaluation and reconsideration. A clear breach is observed between the stage of anticipation and evaluation. We propose that this breach could be couched in terms of both a need and a wish for reciprocity, but also a lack of it. The term ‘reciprocity’ is inspired by Lewis et al.’s notion of ‘reciprocal journalism’ and Loosen and Schmidt’s conceptualization of journalism as a ‘social system’. Implications for the study of participatory journalism and journalism practitioners are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on novelist Oscar "Zeta" Acosta's paratextual struggle for two his published novels "The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo" (1972) and "The Revolt of the Cockroach People" (1973), after he went missing in 1974. It mentions that both the books represented an opportunity for Acosta to establish himself as a co-creator of gonzo journalism and to develop the Chicano voice of gonzo.

In examining Hunter S. Thompson's Gonzo journalism, other themes and aspects have perhaps over-shadowed the consideration of Gonzo as/and sports journalism. Through looking at Gonzo's relationship with sport, and its prominent exploration of the place of sport within wider American cultural contexts, this article examines the ways in which Gonzo differentiates itself as a type of more critical sports journalism, more concerned with the exploitative, corrupt and negative aspects of sports. By comparing and contrasting Gonzo with conventions of sports journalism, and wider conventions governing the presentation of elite sport in America, Gonzo is used to illustrate ways in which ideological deployments of sport are contested, particularly in terms of the complex tensions between mercenary ideas of sport, and myths of sport reliant on ideas of passion, loyalty and emotion. These elements support an argument that the stylistic methods associated with Gonzo journalism facilitate a hybrid form of sports journalism which, though highly subjective, is nonetheless strongly tied to critical social and political commentary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hunter Stockton Thompson, considered the father of gonzo journalism, left a legacy not only for the profession itself but also for the academia. His remarkable biography was very relevant and resulted in a variety of works. The documentary made after his suicide aimed to expose the journalist and novelist behind his writings. This article aims to analyze the reconstruction of his biography and work, as well as to understand the imagery created by Thompson - and rescued by those who took part in the film. Qualitative methodology was used, prioritizing exploratory research and literature, focusing on film analysis to uncover what lies beyond the appearances. The object of study was contextualized addressing the rise of gonzo journalism and the beginning of Thompson's trajectory, dealing with general aspects of the film such as cinematic framework, staging and direction, and soundtrack. Finally, this paper reviews his controversial suicide, matter-of-factly seen by those who knew the writer [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]