The interplay of virtual reality and narrative story in disaster journalism through empathy, transportation, and identification

Although virtual reality (VR) has been shown to be an effective means of delivering news stories, there is still a lack of understanding as to how VR can complement specific narrative formats, such as textual news, in journalism. This study investigates the impact of using VR (vs. 360° video on a 2D screen) to deliver textual news with high (vs. low) narrativity in terms of triggering issue involvement through three immersion-related psychological responses (empathy, transportation, and identification) within the realm of disaster journalism, wherein victims’ experiences are conveyed to users. The results of a between-subject experiment (N = 144) showed that VR (vs. 2D) reported higher transportation. Moreover, VR (vs. 2D) elicited greater empathy when used in conjunction with the textual disaster news with high (vs. low) narrativity, which further increased issue involvement. These findings provide insights that are expected to be helpful in harnessing the potential of VR for narrative storytelling in journalism, which can provoke an empathetic and visceral understanding of victims in disaster news.