Is the future of news in the Metaverse? A social semiotic analysis of the virtual world of the Expresso newspaper
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34629/cpublica.851Keywords:
metaverse, cyberjournalism, virtual reality, Portugal, innovationAbstract
This study critically examines the phenomenon of the metaverse from a social semiotic perspective, focusing on the Portuguese newspaper Expresso and the inauguration of a new virtual space in celebration of its 50th anniversary. The study explores how Expresso represents itself in the metaverse, aiming to decode the primary semiotic resources and their potential meanings, as well as to critically reflect on the sociopolitical implications of the presence of media outlets in immersive digital environments. Specifically, it questions the extent of the technological novelty by drawing comparisons with previous virtual worlds, such as Second Life. The findings highlight that the Expresso metaverse space offers multimodal experiences that produce retrospective and prospective discourses that go beyond traditional and online news consumption. These experiences include modality markers that signal the brand’s identity and history and new interactive semiotic resources that (re)construct the meaning of objects and practices, such as the newsstand and news reading. However, the digital representations of avatars introduce uncertainties regarding the profile and characteristics of Expresso’s audience and the limited use of participatory potentials suggests a continuation of conventional journalistic control over news discourses in digital spaces.
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