Journalism and Immersive Media: Challenges and Opportunities
A special issue of Journalism and Media (ISSN 2673-5172).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2024) | Viewed by 4174
Special Issue Editors
Interests: media innovation; immersive journalism; immersive media; journalism practice; hi-tech journalism
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The introduction of immersive technologies in news media has triggered a shift in journalistic storytelling. Virtual reality, 360-degree videos, and spatial audio represent reality to make the user feels like they are where the events are taking place. The feeling of presence, the first-person experience, and the affective affordances are presented as three of the main features of this new journalism that reinforces the experiential dimension. Within the spectrum of immersive media, augmented reality is often included as a more viable alternative due to its portability, mobility, and ubiquity.
The informative ability of immersive media transform these technologies into valuable and intriguing tools for journalists when it comes to reporting on complex issues. Beyond the disruptive factor, their use is intended to allow audiences to get a better understanding of news stories and distant realities. Therefore, since their introduction in newsrooms became popular in the mid-2010s, these technologies have been employed to depict events such as armed conflicts, human trafficking, migratory flows like the refugee crisis in Europe, volcanic devastations, social injustices, and mass protests, among many other issues. However, with the first experimental wave behind us, the question now is whether newsrooms will set aside the tech hype and focus on meaning.
In short, the emergence of immersive journalism forces us to reflect on its possibilities and challenges. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to delve into the intersection between journalism and immersive media in general and the impact that these technologies have on the production of journalistic storytelling in particular. Both theoretical and empirical proposals will be accepted. Potential topics may include, but are not limited to:
- The theoretical foundations of immersive journalism.
- The functions and features of immersive journalism.
- Users’ experience and immersive journalism.
- Methodological proposals for the study of immersive journalism.
- Immersive capabilities of extended reality for non-fictional storytelling.
- The ethics and normative boundaries of immersive journalism.
- Spatial narratives for news storytelling.
- Spatial audio and news stories.
- Augmented reality journalism.
- Case studies on extended realities and journalism.
- Business models for immersive journalism.
- Metaverses and journalism.
- Emotion-driven news and immersive media.
Prof. Dr. Sara Pérez Seijo
Dr. Paulo Nuno Vicente
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- immersive journalism
- immersive media
- virtual reality journalism
- 360-degree video journalism
- augmented reality journalism
- metaverse
- extended reality
- immersive storytelling
- media innovation
- spatial audio
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