ABC News Takes Plunge into VR with “Nightline” View of Syria
September 18, 2015
ABC News just unveiled another option for viewing the news: virtual reality. On “Nightline,” the network offered a panoramic view of the antiquities of Damascus, Syria, pairing it with a report on the area by correspondent Alexander Marquardt. The nearly 3D image can be accessed on mobile devices or desktop computer by downloading an app from Jaunt, which develops Android and iOS-compatible VR hardware and software, and then visiting ABCNews.com/VR. The image was created by stitching together views from a 16-camera device.
Variety notes that ABC News vice president of multiplatform newsgathering Subrata De reports plans to offer the VR option for the coming U.S. visit of Pope Francis, as well as, potentially, trips to places like Cuba or coverage of the 2016 U.S. presidential race.
ABC News president James Goldston noted in a memo to employees that VR “takes our storytelling to a new frontier.” The move comes at a time when more viewers get their news from mobile devices and streaming video.
Variety quotes the results of a review of comScore data by Pew Research Center’s 2015 report on the state of news media in the U.S.: “39 of the top 50 digital news websites had more traffic to their sites and associated applications coming from mobile devices at the start of 2015 than from desktop computers.”
This isn’t the first ABC News move to new media. Last December, it adopted live-streaming technology “GoStream” that allows correspondents to record and transmit footage via an app on their mobile devices.
ABC News also ran a report explaining to viewers, in print and video, how to engage in the new VR app, and included a link to download the Jaunt VR app.
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