When Hunter S. Thompson Happens, Are You Ready?

I was sad to hear today that Hunter S. Thompson, who penned “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” fatally shot himself tonight at his home, his son said. His gonzo journalism was much closer to blogging than the objective journalism practiced by most mainstream media today; overall, his own style of New Journalism, and New Journalism itself for the most part, was rejected, but it demonstrated to me a road less travelled that I’ve always been attracted to, and I think it helped lead me into blogging.

I learned about his death from the Los Angeles Times Web site; it was the top story.  There are already over 200 news sites reporting this story, many are using the same story from Associated Press, which reports that Thompson’s son, Juan, originally released the news to the Aspen Daily News.

No other media had the story first-hand.  So I, and I’m certain a lot of other people, went to the Aspen Daily News to read more about the story, thinking that, since Thompson lived in the area and they had the news first, they’d be a good source for more details.  Sunday at 9 p.m., I saw this front page:

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No story about Thompson was found on the site.  Now, Aspen Daily News doesn’t have a super-sophisticated Web site, but they don’t need a super-sophisticated Web site.  What they do need, is an up-to-date Web site.

When your blog has its opportunity to capitalize on a significant event, when it has a chance to be the place that people go for information about something of wide interest, will you be ready to handle it?  At the Northern Voice Conference, there was a lot of interest in the panel about how to build traffic.  I think one key is that when the unexpected traffic opportunity happens, you need to be ready.  Can you post to your site from anywhere, at any time?  Do you have a plan?  Even if you’re a small blog on a niche topic, the time to prepare is now.

Posted by Travis Smith on 02/20 at 10:14 PM • Blogging Tips -- Blogging News
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Comments

  1. I will miss him ... BIG HUG for Juan, Jen, Willam and Anita… who never be able to fill the hole left in there lives by the man in spite of the myth and legend attached to his life…..
    ...
    BTW the aspen daily news is small town local sheet with a tiny staff but if you had checked a little later you would have seen the correct page.  The ADN was probably tring to give Juan and his famly a break.  By this point in time I’ll bet the Owl Farm has people snooping all over the place.. this was a big loss..  give his famly and friends a break..

    Posted by Bradley Laboe on 02/21/05 at 06:12 PM
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