How Virtual Reality Will Change the Future of Journalist

Mackenzie Phalen 

mp309018@ohio.edu 

Virtual Reality consists of several aspects; it is a computer-generated environment, including objects and scenes that seem to be accurate. The environment is perceived through a headset known as a "Virtual Reality Headset" or "Helmet." 

The ability to experience a reality you do not live in allows people to be persuaded and educated about things occurring in the world. Before researching this topic, I was unaware of just how beneficial VR can be for journalists. According to Vice, "The award-winning filmmaker and journalist have twenty years of reporting experience, but within the last decade, she's found a powerful storytelling method in an unexpected place: eschewing print, television, and even the Internet, de la Peña believes virtual reality is the most powerful storytelling method at modern media's disposal"(Mufson).

Think about an incident, such as something similar to George Floyd's death. Now think about if the tragic incident wasn't captured on video; seeing what occurred allows people to interpret and understand what occurred. A video released by Vice included a reenactment of a fight that occurred in real life through Virtual Reality. The creator could almost recreate the scene, from the environment, what the people looked like and what they said. Below is a photo of what was just described. 

Photo from Vice 

Virtual Reality is a new form of storytelling where you are immersed in an entirely new environment. However, some journalists worry that VR will take over their job due to the potential shift from reading written work to watching something through a headset. I know that purchasing a product can be daunting if you don't know what it will be like. Virtual Reality is being used to promote products; something that I watched recently was created by Haagan- Datz to save the bees. It was an interactive virtual reality sequence of a bee flying around talking to you. That advertises the brands' values, but it also connects the brand through the interactive aspect. That acts as a new form of advertising. According to Youtube, Directed by Jason Zada, "The Extraordinary Honey Bee' lets you experience a world that impacts you more than you know. What will you do to help save the honey bees."