Disrupting the narrative: immersive journalism in virtual reality

ABSTRACT This paper conceptualises immersive journalism, and discusses the implications of the technology for users who then get a first-hand experience of being at a news event through wearing a virtual reality headset. The paper surveys current approaches to 360-degree immersive journalism films that were produced by early adopters in 2015, identifying the contrasting narrative forms and style of the stories. Focus group studies add new, significant understanding to the types of narratives that work and the impact that immersive storytelling has. The focus group is a study of 18–24 year olds in the UK who are being targeted by this new technology as a way for news broadcasters to reach a new audience. This first study into immersive journalism content produces a new understanding of the impact of the narratives. It identifies the value for news producers adopting this technology, whilst raising concerns over the production of filming 360 degrees. A framework is offered for further research studies into immersive technologies and storytelling in the field of news.

[1]  J. Tulloch.  Ethics, trust and the first person in the narration of long-form journalism , 2014 .

[2]  I. C. Meijer.  The Public Quality of Popular Journalism: developing a normative framework , 2001 .

[3]  Karin Wahl-Jorgensen,et al.  Audience views on user-generated content: exploring the value of news from the bottom up , 2010 .

[4]  C BeallAndrew,et al.  Equilibrium Theory Revisited , 2001 .

[5]  Jeremy N. Bailenson,et al.  Equilibrium Theory Revisited: Mutual Gaze and Personal Space in Virtual Environments , 2001, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[6]  R S Haluck,et al.  Computers and virtual reality for surgical education in the 21st century. , 2000, Archives of surgery.

[7]  B. Rothbaum,et al.  Virtual reality exposure therapy for Vietnam veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. , 2001, The Journal of clinical psychiatry.

[8]  S. Sen,et al.  Why are you telling me this? An examination into negative consumer reviews on the Web , 2007 .

[9]  Sarah Jones,et al.  Immersive Journalism in Media Education , 2017 .

[10]  Howard Tumber,et al.  Journalists under Fire: Subcultures, Objectivity and Emotional Literacy , 2003 .

[11]  Érik Neveu,et al.  Revisiting Narrative Journalism as One of The Futures of Journalism , 2014 .

[12]  Maria Virvou,et al.  On the usability and likeability of virtual reality games for education: The case of VR-ENGAGE , 2008, Comput. Educ..

[13]  Michael McDevitt,et al.  Ethnographic Journalism , 2006 .

[14]  R. Turnock.  Interpreting Diana: Television Audiences and the Death of a Princess , 2000 .

[15]  M. Pantti.  The value of emotion: An examination of television journalists’ notions on emotionality , 2010 .

[16]  S. Livingstone.  The Challenge of Changing Audiences , 2004 .

[17]  S. Seidman,et al.  On the contributions of music to media productions , 1981 .

[18]  M. Macdonald.  Exploring media discourse , 2003, Language in Society.

[19]  Stephen Quinn,et al.  Funding Journalism in the Digital Age , 2010 .

[20]  Truman Capote.  In Cold blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences / Truman Capote , 1965 .

[21]  Marcel Machill,et al.  The Use of Narrative Structures in Television News , 2007 .

[22]  Marcel Broersma,et al.  Between engagement and ironic ambiguity: Mediating subjectivity in narrative journalism , 2014 .

[23]  Mel Slater,et al.  Immersive Journalism: Immersive Virtual Reality for the First-Person Experience of News , 2010, PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments.

[24]  Robert E. Gutsche,et al.  The digital animation of literary journalism , 2016 .

[25]  B. Winston.  Towards Tabloidization? Glasgow revisited, 1975-2001 , 2002 .

[26]  Robert S. Allison,et al.  Personal Space in Virtual Reality , 2003, TAP.

[27]  youngjin oh.  Virtual Reality as Empathy Machine , 2017 .

[28]  Edward T. Hall,et al.  A System for the Notation of Proxemic Behavior1 , 1963 .