Using Augmented Reality (AR) in the Visual Narrative of News Content in Arab News Channels

Abstract

The current study aimed to identify how augmented reality technology (AR) is used in visual narrative of news content in Arab news channels by identifying the type of augmented reality used, the ways offered to deliver the content, the objectives of its use, and the broadcaster's interaction with augmented reality during the news presenting. The study relied on the descriptive and the comparative approach, and a purposive sample of 60 news bulletins was selected from two news channels: Al Arabiya and Sky News Arabia. The study found that there are no differences between Sky News and Al Arabiya channels in terms of the type of augmented reality used, the animated type was the most used, while the immersive type was the least used. The results also revealed that the most topics that using augmented

reality were military and then political topics, while social topics was ranked last. The results also showed that the goal of using augmented reality in the news of Al Arabiya and Sky News Arabia was primarily (informational and aesthetic) in the first place, and the expansion in Information and directing the audience to important information in the news stories were the most prominent functions of using augmented reality in the news bulletins of the two channels.