Does the Empathy Machine Make Journalism Students Compassionate? An Empirical Study

Abstract

In 360-degree virtual reality, news stories put the user (who consumes news through a head-mounted display) inside the story. The present study tries to find out whether select 360-degree video documentaries make the users empathize with the story, situation, and people involved in the story. On the other hand, in the news media, journalists and documentary filmmakers work hard to get the news out to the public. People who read the news have to understand how journalists present the news. In 360-degree documentaries, there is no such boundary. This is why the current study is significant in determining how the users feel about the documentaries they watch using virtual reality headsets (HMDs). The current study also tried to find out if there was a difference in the level of compassion between the control group and the experimental group after watching a 360-degree VR documentary. It also looked at how the empathy machine affected the level of compassion of both male and female journalism students. This study used a quantitative approach and a questionnaire that the participants filled out on their own. The respondents who belong to the experimental group and who filled out the pre-test questionnaire were asked to use VR headsets (Oculus Quest 2) to watch a 360-degree documentary. The control group respondents were asked to watch the content using mobile phones.