Fourth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

As printing media suffers from the decrease of its readers and their shifting towards internet media digital platforms, the fast-going evolution of communication technology led us to a new media concept, i.e. Immersive Journalism. This new lead in journalism was due to the utilization of new technologies: VR and AR . Through these technologies, printing media introduced its readers to new phases of technologies that connected their experience of printing material with electronic “mirrors” through providing them with visual codes to link them to more interactive storytelling. This research studies this phenomenon through focusing on the extent to which online reality is utilized in the Egyptian media. It investigates its prevalence, the type of the content it is associated with, and to what extent this technology provides alternatives for the storytelling narratives that go beyond the limits of the printed media. The research explores the future of this technology in the Egyptian space by holding interviews with chief editors and concerned journalists with a view to understanding the challenges that encounter newspapers, planning or already using this technology. To measure the response of this technology on its users’ ends, the research examines the opinions of the readers of these newspapers to evaluate their reception of that technology, its accessibility, and topics they are interested in seeing with this technology. Without study, the lack of understanding the readers and preferences in relation to this technology may minimize the benefit of this technology and hence render it ineffective.