Title: Effects of virtual reality news on knowledge gain and news attitudes

Authors: Se-Hoon Jeong; Sonho Kim; Jung-Yoon Yum; Yoori Hwang

Addresses: School of Media and Communication, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, 02473, South Korea ' Korea Press Foundation, 124 Sejongdaero, Jung-gu, Seoul, 04520, South Korea ' School of Media and Communication, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, 02473, South Korea ' Department of Digital Media, Myongji University, 34 Geobukgol-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 03674, South Korea

Abstract: This research examined the effects of virtual reality (VR) news on knowledge gain and news attitudes. This study found that compared to non-VR news, VR news could have a negative impact on knowledge gain, whereas it could have some positive effect on news attitudes. The positive effect on news attitudes was only found with a more experience-related news topic (i.e., travel sites in Rio de Janeiro), but not with a less experience-related news topic (i.e., new surgical procedure for pancreatic cancer). The positive impact of VR on news attitudes was mediated by presence and subsequent enjoyment.

Keywords: virtual reality; VR; news; journalism; knowledge; attitudes.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMC.2020.107098

International Journal of Mobile Communications, 2020 Vol.18 No.3, pp.300 - 313

Received: 13 Mar 2018
Accepted: 18 Oct 2018
Published online: 04 May 2020 *

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