Two Decades of Multimedia Storytelling in Digital Journalism: Lessons of the Past, Challenges of the Present, and Potentials for the Future

Located within the field of journalism research, this book deals with multimedia storytelling in digital journalism. It focuses on the very fundamental question of how previously established forms of presentation can and have evolved in the digital age. Using a multi-method design, it first conducts a systematic literature analysis of international studies on the selected topic (n=381). Hypotheses derived from this study serve as the basis for a quantitative content analysis of more than 1,700 multimedia stories from German and US media companies, which also forms the core of the analysis. In a final step, the thesis discusses these findings with journalists and story producers from Germany and the USA (n=21). Overall, multimedia stories were produced in a complex and resource-intensive manner just a decade ago, but have since developed into an established and consolidated format in editorial departments. Technological development, the focus on the needs of the audience and the ＂turn to mobile＂ are determining the future of the format.

Rosanna Planer is a research associate at the Institute for Communication and Media Studies at Leipzig University. Her research focuses on innovative forms of journalistic storytelling, such as multimedia stories, virtual reality, and podcasts.