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selected features are “En la piel de un refugiado” (“In the skin of a refugeee”), published by El Confidencial in 2016 and “Fukushima, vidas contaminadas” (“Fukushima, polluted lives”), also published that year by El País. Results indicate the coincidence in the use of some narrative techniques, but also great differences when using other resources. This fact certifies the experimental nature of this type of contents.

Keywords:

Immersive storytelling; feature; 360º video; innovation; virtual reality.

didad con sus autores. Los reportajes analizados son “En la piel de un refugiado”, publicado en 2016 por El Confidencial, y “Fukushima, vidas contaminadas”, publicado ese mismo año por El País. Aunque algunas técnicas narrativas coinciden, observamos también grandes diferencias en el uso de otros recursos, lo que evidencia el carácter experimental de este tipo de proyectos.

Palabras clave:

Periodismo inmersivo; reportaje; vídeo en 360º; innovación; realidad virtual.

1. Introduction

Since 2014, the appearance of a series of technological devices to capture 360º video, of stereoscopic sights mostly known as VR glasses (virtual reality) and the support of two of the main Internet platforms –Facebook and Google– have favored the development of so-called immersive journalism. This concept was defined in 2010 by the researcher and journalist Nonny De la Peña as “the production of news in a way in which people can have first-person experiences of the events or situations that are described in the news” (De la Peña, et al., 2010: 291).

Before then, immersive journalism had been linked to content that offered a certain grade of interactivity through the computer screen. Some of the works1 of this first stage were produced by De la Peña and her “The emblematic group”: “Gone Gitmo” (2007), “The ipress experience” (2009), “Cap & Trade” (2010), “Hunger in Los Angeles” (2012), “Syria” (2014) and “Kiya” (2016) while others were produced by large media. This is the case of “Harvest of Change”, published in 2014 by Des Moines Register; “Is the Nasdaq in Another Bubble?”, in 2015 by The Wall Street Journal, or “6x9: a virtual experience of solitary confinement”, published in 2016 by The Guardian.

However, the greatest contributions to immersive journalism were made mainly at the end of 2015 by some of the leading media in the United States –ABC News, Associated Press, CNET, Discovery, National Geographic, Frontline, Huffington Post, Sky News, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today and Vice News– (Hardee & McMahan, 2017: 2).

In Spain, El Español was the first news outlets to produce this content in 2015 with three interviews to the leaders of the different political parties during that year’s electoral campaign. Although the production has not been as abundant as the one in the United States or in the United Kingdom –in the latter case, thanks, above all, to the BBC’s drive (Pérez Seijo, 2016)–, it is worth noting the commitment of some media such as RTVE Lab which published 20 pieces between January 2015 and December 2017) or El País (35 pieces in this same period). More recently, local and regional media such as Diario Sur (23 pieces), Castilla La Mancha Media (19 pieces), Canal Extremadura (16 pieces), Diario de Navarra (10 pieces), Diario Montañés (5), Diario de Sevilla (1) and Faro of Vigo (1) have also joined this production with experimental works.

1 Can be consulted at www.immersivejournalism.com