Speaker: Meghan Sims, director of strategic video initiatives at McClatchy / Intervenante: Meghan Sims, directrice de la stratégie vidéo de McClatchy
Innovation in journalism is accessible, says McClatchy’s Meghan Sims. She prides the local news conglomerate – the United States’ second-largest owner of papers like the Miami Herald and Sacramento Bee – for pursuing new storytelling initiatives through the lens of regional news.
« We have some kind of visual special sauce in our pages, » Sims said. As director of McClatchy’s strategic video initiatives, she finds new ways to transform storytelling beyond the scope of print journalism.
To do so, McClatchy has embraced volumetric journalism: news consumed through different visual mediums that help readers understand the depth of the world around them. Volumetric journalism applies tactics like virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and photogrammetry as visual aids designed to engage readers.
Sims lauds the Sacramento Bee‘s embrace of volumetric journalism to cover the aftermath of California’s Camp Fire – a devastating wildfire that resulted in the disappearances of over 1,000 people. Using drone photogrammetry, the Bee digitally recreated 3D images of burned parking garages and rubble to demonstrate the extent of the destruction. These structures no longer exist, though their damage is now archived.
Sims says volumetric journalism is an effective tool to drive reader engagement. These initiatives, in addition to live journalism events, have helped McClatchy boost subscriber interaction by 140 percent.