People abuse Gonzo style journalism all the time these days. What they don't realize is that Hunter S Thompson was a) an inherently interesting character and b) his character was half-bullshit most of the time to make the story more interesting.
Journalists keep injecting themselves into their stories without being either interesting or contribute in any way (other than to show off their narrative and descriptive writing skills).
I hope it's just a short term trend or due to journalism budget cuts.