When the going gets weird

Narrative Strategien und Kritikfunktionen des literarischen Journalismus in der politischen Berichterstattung in den USA der 1960er-Jahre

Abstract

Literary journalism and alternative media were productively interrelated in the United States since the mid-1960s. As a distinct type of media coverage, literary journalism offered to authentically mediate lived-in culture and precisely document people and places. As such, it can be identified as a counterpart of objective news journalism. Using unusual methods of presentation and research, literary journalism resonated with parts of the public that renounced the information and orientation provided by professional news media. By means of narrative devices reporters fleshed out their professional role more freely, developed an empathetic voice and wrote critically about a times of crisis. The study analyzes this capacity of literary journalism based on Hunter S. Thompson’s political coverage for Rolling Stone about the presidential election 1972.