Technology has brought the world innovative ways to gather and share information. And nowhere has this been more evident than in the field of journalism. Today’s journalists, writers, bloggers and other content creators are bringing stories to life in ways we wouldn’t have even dreamed of 10, or even five, years ago.

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A customer tries out the Gear VR at Samsung 837.

Outlets such as The New York Times are expanding the boundaries of storytelling through the use of technology. And to help them on their mission, they’ve turned to Samsung to supply them with the tech tools they need to show their audience the world from a new angle.

The Daily 360, with technology by Samsung, is The Times’ visual digital journalism project. Armed with Samsung Gear 360 cameras, NYT journalists and photographers around the world are using 360-degree storytelling to bring readers even closer to the stories they care about. Readers are virtually transported to the scene of the story in a way the written word simply cannot emulate. To put it simply: technology is changing the way journalists do their jobs.

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Staffers from the New York Times share their perspectives on the evolution of journalism, and how technology such as virtual reality is helping drive the change.

“Virtual reality can take us places that we don’t get to go with other mediums,” said Marcelle Hopkins, executive producer of the New York Times’ 360 News, during a recent panel discussion along with three other members of the Times’ editorial staff at Samsung 837.

The discussion, which covered a broad range of topics that illustrated how newsrooms today are evolving as new storytelling mediums pop up, walked the audience through The Times’ thought process in terms of creating this new storytelling platform, highlighting how VR fits into the overall scope of journalism.

Sam Dolnick, associate editor at The New York Times, explained how the outlet views VR as a natural complement to traditional journalism, and a way for them to create immersive experiences among the readership.

“Virtual reality isn’t for providing context and analysis,” added Sam, “but what it does very well is give you a sense of presence. We see potential in the format and wanted to make it part of our daily mission.”

For the past year, The Times has been creating VR content on and off, but found the prospect of creating one piece of 360-degree content every day an exciting challenge. As a leader in the virtual reality space, Samsung and our VR and 360 products and services are the perfect match to the media conglomerate’s ambitions.

Samsung remains at the leading edge of VR and 360 innovation, not just in VR technology but in VR possibility. “Partnerships such as this with the New York Times highlight our movement to democratize VR and 360 content,” says Marc Mathieu, Chief Marketing Officer at Samsung Electronics America. “New storytelling technology has the potential to create powerful and novel experiences, bringing humanity closer than ever before and truly show off what is possible when award-winning journalism and award-winning technology combine.”