Immersive Journalism as Storytelling: Ethics, Production and Design. 1st Edition.

This book sets out cutting-edge new research and examines future prospects on 360-degree video, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR) in journalism, analyzing and discussing virtual world experiments from a range of perspectives.Featuring contributions from the ViSmedia team and a diverse range of scholars, Immersive Journalism as Storytelling highlights both the opportunities and the challenges presented by this form of storytelling. The book discusses how immersive journalism has the potential to reach new audiences, change the way stories are told, and provide more interactivity within the news industry.

Chapter 1: Introduction: What is immersive journalism?

By Astrid Gynnild, Turo Uskali, Sarah Jones and Esa Sirkkunen

This opening chapter of Immersive Journalism as Storytelling provides an overview of the emergent field of immersive journalism. The chapter showcases how immersive technologies are opening gateways to virtual realities that might change journalism forever. The new technologies put the truth-seeking values of journalism into play and challenge journalism responsibilities in new ways. The editors Turo Uskali, Astrid Gynnild, Sarah Jones, and Esa Sirkkunen highlight how the journalistic maneuverings between reality and virtual reality are particularly intriguing to work with.

Chapter 2: Exploring the immersive journalism landscape

By Esa Sirkkunen, Jorge Vázquez-Herrero, Turo Uskali and Heli Väätäjä

This chapter starts with an overview of 360-degree journalism genres. The authors Sirkkunen, Vázquez-Herrero, Uskali and Väätäjä explore the relationship between conventional journalism and 360-degree productions. The authors discuss topics, production processes and narrative options of immersive journalism, especially 360-degree journalism. The data for the chapter contains findings from analyzing more than 100 360-degree stories by international and national media outlets: CNN, USA Today, The New York Times, Euronews, the BBC, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, El País, and Dagens Nyheter. In addition to the data analyzing 360-degree stories, this chapter includes interviews with experts in different fields and with different approaches to immersive journalism.

Chapter 3: Case Euronews: A low-cost approach to immersive storytelling

By Joakim Vindenes and Astrid Gynnild

This chapter by Joakim Vindenes and Astrid Gynnild investigates the approaches of a particularly innovative immersive journalism actor. The pan-European news organization Euronews has systematically experimented with immersive storytelling using consumer-grade 360-degree cameras since 2016. In this chapter the authors identify the tools, emerging work practices and content of experimental immersive journalism, including the ways in which 360-degree videos are less editor-directed than regular video equivalents. The analysis is based on qualitative interview data with leaders and practitioners at Euronews and subsequent content analysis of 95 published 360-degree video productions. Based on the two empirical datasets the authors critically discuss the advantages and disadvantages of low-cost approaches to 360-degree news production.

Chapter 5: The impact of emotions in immersive journalism

By Turo Uskali and Pasi Ikonen

This chapter draws from journalism studies, health sciences, and ethics. Turo Uskali and Pasi Ikonen outline the emotional turn in journalism studies and summarize the effects of VR treatments and other health-related issues. The authors focus on ethical questions in relation to immersive journalism, especially pondering the need for possible updates and fine-tuning for traditional journalism ethics. Included in the chapter are ethical guidelines for immersive journalism, based on the perspectives presented in the chapter.

Chapter 6: Project Syria: Accuracy in immersive journalism

By Siri Flatlandsmo and Astrid Gynnild

In this chapter Siri Flatlandsmo and Astrid Gynnild discuss opportunities and dilemmas of virtual reality journalism through a case study of Nonny de la Peña’s pioneering production from 2014, Project Syria. The authors examine in what ways the VR story potentially deviate from established norms of accurate journalism. The chapter focuses on the challenges of using computer-generated imagery (CGI) in VR by applying the main principles of a well-established code-of-ethics program in journalism; the  The aim of this chapter is to highlight in what ways VR specifically challenges established principles of ethics in journalism, and to prompt further reflection on how journalists maintain their journalistic integrity while experimenting with new technologies.

Chapter 7: The promises and perils of immersive journalism

By Deborah G. Johnson

In this chapter Deborah G. Johnson primarily focuses on storytelling that uses virtual reality (VR) equipment, though much of the analysis is relevant to other forms of immersive journalism. The discourses around immersive journalism are critically examined with immersive journalism viewed as an emerging technology. Professor Johnson positions this examination as an exercise in anticipatory ethics and a form of responsible research and innovation (RRI). Immersive journalism discourse tends to emphasize the promises and perils of future development; hence, the chapter critically examines two of the major promises and their correlated risks.

Chapter 13: Augmented reality as news

By Pasi Ikonen and Turo Uskali

In chapter 13 of Immersive Journalism as Storytelling, Pasi Ikonen and Turo Uskali introduce the concept and history of augmented reality (AR), the use of augmented reality in journalism and other productions. In augmented reality, virtual information or objects are added to the otherwise real environment. In this study Ikonen and Uskali compare virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality displays as well as showcase how AR is used as a storytelling toll in an immersive journalism context.

Chapter 14: Teaching immersive journalism

By Turo Uskali and Pasi Ikonen

This chapter draws from a study where the main purpose was to answer two questions: 1) Where has immersive journalism been taught? and 2) How to best teach immersive journalism? Authors Turo Uskali and Pasi Ikonen present an overview and the teaching perspectives of some of the leading journalism educators, focusing on the interplay of emergent technologies and journalism, especially in relation to immersive journalism.

Chapter 15: Immersive journalism as witnessing

By Lars Nyre and Joakim Vindenes

In this chapter Lars Nyre and Joakim Vindenes introduce a design experiment in higher education in which VR stories were created as a mandatory group work of the course. The resulting journalistic stories are analyzed in light of two theoretical traditions. The VR stories are analyzed scene by scene and presents what type of witnessing they should be characterized as being.explain the experience of being present at the scene and what witnessing means in this context. They Finally, the authors discuss the journalistic value or appropriateness of such types of witnessing.

Chapter 16: Forecasting future trajectories for immersive journalism

By Turo Uskali, Astrid Gynnild, Esa Sirkkunen and Sarah Jones

In this final chapter, Turo Uskali, Astrid Gynnild, Esa Sirkkunen, and Sarah Jones debate and predict the future of immersive journalism. The authors discuss the premises of accuracy and transparency and the challenges of being ethical storytellers in the virtual reality universe. They summarize that immersive journalism has the potential to reach new audiences, change the way stories are told, and provide more interactivity within the news industry.

Uskali, Turo, Astrid Gynnild, Sarah Jones and Esa Sirkkunen. 2020. Immersive Journalism as Storytelling: Ethics, Production and Design. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429437748