Abstract

This chapter addresses the journalists who use virtual reality to cover international events, making observations on the best practices for doing this type of digital news reporting. The chapter specifically focuses on two properties of VR journalism: the medium’s simulation of presence at the scene and the medium’s simulation of the audience’s cross-cultural encounters with “other” people. Drawing upon the critical frameworks found in postcolonial studies, this chapter will argue that there is a need for digital journalists to cultivate more critical self-reflexivity, if they hope to use VR in a way that does not flatten or sensationalize cultural difference.