The Sochi Project

Abstract

The Sochi Project is a distinguished example of slow journalism. The project, a transmedia experience built by Dutch photographer Rob Hornstra and journalist Arnold van Bruggen, depicts the hidden story behind the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. The project involves an interactive documentary, numerous print media extensions, digital publications, and an exhibition. Transmedia storytelling involves the unfolding of a storyworld in which instalments of the narrative are distributed across different media platforms to engage the audience and offer a meaningful experience. The case study paper aims to discuss the premises of slow journalism within the transmedia space as the theoretical background on which the analysis of the project is founded. The transmedia analysis delineates how The Sochi Project is developed and, consequently, how slow journalism can benefit from multiplatform media production. In conclusion, slow journalism is not necessarily attached to traditional media, but the opposite: it is aligned with the new possibilities offered by novel technologies. The relevance of the paper relies on the exemplification of slow journalism within transmedia dynamics.