Euronews, in partnership with several French regional media outlets and with the support of Google News Lab, launches a series of 9 portraits of French people in 360° videos, produced in the weeks before the French presidential election.
Euronews is covering the French presidential campaign with an innovative series of portraits of voters produced using VR360 technology. The ground-breaking project created by Euronews, one of the world’s pioneers in the production of immersive video reports, has received the support of Google News Lab.
It is being produced in collaboration with the newsrooms of French regional media outlets – Ouest-France, Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace, La Nouvelle République, Radio Caraïbes International, and French news website StreetPress. With-in depth regional knowledge, they will provide crucial insight into the geographic and sociological diversity at the local level, in order to better reflect the French electorate.
Failure to accurately foresee the outcomes of the Brexit referendum or the US election highlighted a gap in the traditional media’s understanding of the issues and concerns of the peoples whose lives they cover. Consequently, as the French election campaign has been rocked by surprises that have attracted the entire world’s attention, Euronews and its partners are turning to the citizens of France.
Immersive journalism provides a fresh perspective on the campaign to better listen to and understand the issues affecting the French electorate, and to let them have their say, expressing their hopes and worries in the run-up to this crucial vote.
Before the first round on April 23, Euronews’ journalist-producer Olivier Péguy and partner journalists set out to meet the people of France, whether they intend to vote or not, throughout mainland France and its overseas territories.
With the eyes of the world watching France, the series of nine 360° episodes is being produced in six languages: English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish.
A tenth episode will gather reactions after the second round. For the first time, Euronews will produce this story in an interactive virtual-reality environment. The episode will be produced with German start-up Vragments.
Euronews hopes that this new coverage model will inspire journalists for future elections, such as those in Germany in September.
| Olivier Péguy, journalist-producer, Euronews |
“Our starting-point is that all opinions are worth hearing – but for us to hear them, they must reach our ears. This project, conducted with The News Lab of Google and our media partners, actually lets us go and listen to what people want to tell us, and then to convey it to our audience. Because every opinion matters, Euronews is All Views.“
| David Dieudonné, Google News Lab Head in France |
“Google News Lab is particularly happy to support this innovative project, which uses the narrative power of 360° journalism in the news flow, to make new voices heard and connect a wide international audience with a series of local realities.”
France 2017 in 360°
The series is simultaneously broadcast by Euronews and the media partners. For Euronews on euronews.com, its mobile site, its apps, its YouTube channel and its other digital platforms.
(Source: Euronews press release)