Watershed Moments in Journalism

Abstract

At least two watershed moments in American journalism in recent times involve, paradoxically, emerging, nascent technology, and the truly well-tested First Amendment.Given the New York Times' distribution in November of one million Google Cardboard devices to home-delivery subscribers for immersion in virtual reality (VR) stories, it is easy to imagine that nascent technology will soon be commonplace. And is and will continue to be hugely important method of reporting journalistic stories.Advertising Age noted that New York Times' app was downloaded more times in its first four days than any Times app before, and viewers spent an impressive average of nearly 15 minutes using it. . Although Times editorial staff previously had considered the storytelling potential of VR, it was not until they met with Google and Mini USA, one of the two advertisers that backed the New York Times project, that the project became possible.The project's editorial nucleus, Displaced, is an 11-min film about the lives of three refugee children living outside their war-torn homelands. It enables the viewer to ride along in the back of truck by the side of Hana, 12-year-old Syrian. It also empowers the viewer to stand on the open plain as women rush to collect bags in humanitarian food aid drop.The project was a watershed moment for storytelling, Jake Silverstein, editor in chief of the New York Times Magazine, told Advertising Age.We began in really big way, building an audience that is actually hungry for this kind of content.Questions for journalism educators in this new Era of include how integrates with the web, how it integrates with social media, how gaming will influence the direction of VR, given that the Oculus Rift was developed on gaming platform, Unity. The Oculus Rift, purchased by Facebook for US$2 billion in 2014, and other devices are in development stages. Sony, Microsoft, Google, and others have devices in the works. How will these devices enable communicators to connect with audiences? How will they be used in routine advertising and journalism practice?As the devices become more available and less expensive, what new storytelling techniques and best practices will emerge in VR? How will affect newsroom workflows? Lee Nadler, marketing communications manager for Mini USA, told Advertising Age thatCreating content for virtual reality definitely takes bit more planning than usual. It costs more too. Pre-production costs around one and half times as much as it does for standard digital video, while the shoot can cost around twice as much and post-production runs around 10 times the usual.And what will be the implications for other aspects of society and the economy, for example, the travel industry? Given that provides the opportunity to create personalized interactions and allows news consumers to experience location they are interested in somewhere in the world, will individuals continue to feel the need to explore those locations in person? Marriott, for example, already has introduced the Teleporter that creates 4D experience to take people around the world by stepping into the company's booth-style exhibit (Sturgis, 2014), and The Des Moines Register (2014) provided people with virtual tour of modern farm.Interestingly, Storybench, the Art and Science of Digital Storytelling from the Media Innovation Program at Northeastern University, featured VR Journalism: Creating on Emerging Technologies in its September 9, 2015, edition (Bajak, 2015). …