Immersive Storytelling.

Abstract

Narratives, both personal and public, define how we understand the world around us, and storytelling is the journalist’s stock-in-trade. New approaches to teaching this craft skill are required in a disruptive age, characterised by lack of trust: Changed environments throw questions of individual identity into sharp relief, both for the journalist – the storyteller - and the people whose stories they tell. Through critical evaluation of the dialogue around storytelling experienced in workshops by students and faculty at the Salzburg Academy – and drawing on exemplars from global journalism practice - this essay reflects on how immersive storytelling processes, embracing as many voices as possible, could indicate a way ahead. It sketches out a design for teaching immersive storytelling, with a focus on the importance of listening, the primacy of voice and the value of empathy. This transformative pedagogy is shaped by the concept that journalists who are emotionally and digitally literate are more likely to produce journalism that is inclusive and connected.