I have a lot to say on the topic of how VR/360 will affect the future of my career. As a matter of fact I was just on the phone with a professor of journalism/marketing from Northwestern yesterday talking about how there is no such thing as a traditional “journalist”. When I was first getting into journalism, you thought that’s what you were getting into…journalism. Journalism by it’s traditional nature is not what is used to be, and that’s not a bad thing.
Now whether you are an advertiser, a marketer, a journalist…you will all have your hands in the pot in terms of work. Sure, a journalist will probably create most of the content. But now they are also responsible for social media metrics, analytics, advertising online, click-bait…you name it.
My point is that 360 is no different. I personally think it is a really cool innovation. I was explaining the journalistic impact to my father who I don’t think could really wrap his head around it. The fact that you can basically live in a live setting of whatever is going on in the world. But this is where the future is going…and the future is inevitable. This will be one more medium which all stations are going to have to account for when going out on a shoot or story. Bring the 360 camera…that’s probably going to become a common phrase.
While it doesn’t necessarily help the plight of the dying art of journalism, it does give a certain level of rawness and realness to any given event; which I suppose is almost equally, or even more so, valuable in it’s own right.
