Virtual Reality: Bringing Immersive Storytelling To Journalism

Our news outlets could see another digital overhaul with the widespread roll out of virtual reality approaching.
Say the phrase “virtual reality” to a casual tech user and it might conjure up images of sci-fi movies or comic book fantasies. But in recent months, “VR”, as it’s called in tech parlance, has simultaneously become more accessible and more en vogue.
Though the idea of VR has been around for some time—think virtual reality video games of the nineties—it’s only recently that it’s come back into the fore, specifically in the realm of news media. Put simply, VR offers a three-dimensional and far more immersive storytelling experience than simple video, text, or audio can provide.
Whereas in the past VR was largely used to conjure up fantasy worlds, in the information-hungry internet era it’s being used to personalize and familiarize world events that are happening across the globe. In the competitive eyeball economy, news organizations—which are increasingly doubling as technology companies—are always looking for new ways to reach, impress and engage with their readers and subscribers and earn their loyalty. Thus, VR is seen as the possible next frontier of storytelling and journalism. After all, what could be a better way of making news consumers feel empathy and to care about current events than creating the illusion that they themselves are part of whatever is unfolding.
So what’s changed in the past year that’s made VR more of a reality for casual consumers? One of the biggest game changers for the VR space has been the ubiquity of the smartphone. All of a sudden, the most expensive and complicated part of a VR device or viewer—the actual computer—is something that most consumers have already at home in hand-held form. Innovators have latched onto this, and in some cases simply created attachments that provide the mechanics of the experience, while relying on the humble smartphone and purpose-built apps to provide the computing power. A good example of this is the Google Cardboard VR viewer, which uses crude folded cardboard as well as special lenses to block out a user’s peripheral vision and allow them to view media through a purpose-built app.
Another major VR viewer is the Oculus Rift. Though not as low cost and accessible as Google’s cardboard model, Oculus Rift was built with an open source data code, so anyone with the requisite skills who wants to make the viewer on their own is able to do so and expose themselves to the world of VR. Samsung also has a popular consumer-facing model called the Samsung Gear headset, which offers a more sophisticated VR experience than more basic models.
So what are some examples of news media companies deploying VR to enhance their storytelling? In November,The New York Times delivered 1 million of the Google Cardboard VR viewers to all of its Sunday edition subscribers. Offering three downloadable stories built specifically for the VR viewing experience, this represented the most mainstream entry of VR into the general consumer space to date. A bit earlier in the game, Iowa newspaper Des Moines Register used the Oculus Rift as the basis for an interactive story about farming in the state. In addition, The Washington Post, Associated Press, and The Wall Street Journal have all gotten into the VR game with various reporting projects.
For the past decade, the number of articles and blogs portending the demise of journalism in the internet era has been overwhelming. In many ways it’s refreshing and exciting for something like VR to be offering an entirely new way for news organizations to provide value to their consumers. In short, the VR trend bodes well in terms of innovation in the digital journalism space.  
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