Article
In March 2017, Knight Foundation, along with partners Google News Lab and the Online News Association, launched the Journalism 360 Challenge to advance the use of virtual reality and other immersive storytelling approaches in the field of journalism.The open call for early stage ideas drew 800 applicants from around the world. It showed that journalists are seizing the opportunity to use emerging technology to create fresh forms of storytelling and engage with audiences in new ways. At the same time, innovation in immersive storytelling is taking place across the news media ecosystem. Promising ideas for new tools and methods are being developed by startups, as well as traditional news organizations, local news outlets, universities and public radio.Today we are announcing support for 11 of these projects. Each was chosen for its potential to bolster the collective understanding of how new forms of immersive storytelling can meet the changing information needs of communities and individuals, and strengthen the future of journalism.