The News Can Make You Feel Helpless. This Company Wants To Change That.

Created by humanitarian aid workers, RYOT News enables its readers to get involved in the stories it reports on.
A screenshot of RYOT News' website. The company has partnered with The Huffington Post, The Associated Press and other organizations to create virtual reality films and documentaries.
A screenshot of RYOT News' website. The company has partnered with The Huffington Post, The Associated Press and other organizations to create virtual reality films and documentaries.
RYOT News

More often than not, the news tells you about the problems of the world without giving you a way to help solve them.

RYOT News, created by humanitarian aid workers Bryn Mooser and David Darg, aims to be different. The company wants to encourage its audience to do something about what it reads.

Alongside familiar icons for Twitter and Facebook, RYOT News' articles all feature a "Take Action" button, giving readers a chance to do just that -- whether it means signing a petition, making a donation or volunteering.

The company has also partnered with The Associated Press and other organizations to release a number of virtual reality films and documentaries, including "Body Team 12," which was recently nominated for an Oscar for best documentary short. It also recently released "The Crossing," which chronicled the refugee crisis in Greece in partnership with The Huffington Post and Susan Sarandon.

As part of HuffPost's "Digital Dive" series, we spoke to RYOT News co-founder Bryn Mooser to learn more about his company's projects and mission.

What is RYOT News?

RYOT is an immersive media company. We reach over 100 million young people a month and tell stories of what's happening in the world and what you can do about it. Every story at RYOT has an action and a way for people to get involved in the world.

What led you to create RYOT? How did the idea first come about?

David and I were humanitarian aid workers and wanted to use story to change the world. Media and news is often so cynical and shallow. As technology connects us all over the world, why should news still be a one-way flow of information?

How did you come up with the name RYOT?

RYOT is a Hindi word that means "peasant." We used this term because we wanted to help build a platform that could help elevate voices often unheard. We also love the Martin Luther King Jr. quote where he says that "a riot is the language of the unheard."

What film would you say you're most proud of?

We are very excited that our film "Body Team 12" was just nominated for an Oscar for best documentary short. This is an important film for us because it highlights the brave work of the body-collecting teams in Liberia during the Ebola outbreak.

How can using virtual reality tell a story differently than 2D video? What value does VR add?

VR is the most significant shift in media since the mobile phone. It is changing how we think of video and journalism. VR brings you inside the story as never before and opens up the whole world in 360 degrees.

How has VR technology changed the way you tell a story?

It is just the start to how VR will change media and storytelling. It's a mobile-first technology, so everyone with a smartphone has the power to play 360-degree video in their pocket.

Where do you see the future of the news industry going? How has traditional media failed in the past, and looking forward, what is RYOT doing to fix this problem?

News is already decentralized. Distribution is democratized, and with mobile phone penetration in the world, storytelling will be democratized. We won't need a news anchor and huge news crew to go to the field and tell us what's happening when we can have local people tell their own stories in their own voices.

Where do you see VR technology going in the future?

VR is the future of storytelling. It has changed the way we think of video and opened up whole new worlds for us to explore and be immersed in.

Is VR the last frontier for storytelling? Do you think there are other tools to tell stories that haven't been adequately used yet?

VR is just the next step. It's a gateway to augmented reality, and that will be a gateway to whatever comes next. The world is changing so fast. We all better hold on tight and be nimble and iterate and calibrate to stay ahead. The future of media is for the small, focused media brands. The titans will be in trouble if they don't start swimming fast.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Also on HuffPost:

"Digital Dive" is a running series looking at the future of the media industry.

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