Few people have had as much influence on journalism as Hunter Thompson. He invented and named "gonzo journalism" to describe his fearless way of attacking a story, becoming part of the story, and exposing the craziest, seamiest side of life. Sometimes, Thompson ingratiated himself with his sources in order to get the "real" view, as he did with the Hell's Angels. Sometimes, he set himself up in total opposition to the story, and challenged every notion of propriety and self-importance by his sources, such as his reporting on presidential campaigns. Either way, it was gonzo. It wasn't objective; it was Thompson's perspective. It wasn't complete; it was in-depth only on what Thompson found to be interesting. It wasn't sanitized; it was the ugly, unvarnished truth as he saw it.

Gonzo journalism has been adopted by thousands of reporters in the 30 or so years since Thompson perfected it. You can even call it a precursor to blogging - because so many bloggers revel in "telling it like it is," warts and all. But of course, few of those journalists have Thompson's skills. Instead they just titillate, but without providing a true challenge to the orthodox systems of beliefs.

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