Innovation in the World of Journalism

Drones, unmatched aerial vehicles (UAVs), or remotely piloted air systems (RPAS) have been used to aid in military weapons for years. More recently, drones have begun to be used for a more wide range of purposes including videography, photography, and even live streaming. 

Drones are increasing in popularity and many journalists have found that using drones allows them to surveil and learn in a more unique and insightful way. 

In the past, many journalists and news companies have used helicopters in order to gain converge from an aerial view. Journalists have now found that drones are much more affordable. They are also smaller which means they can be used in more areas and terrains.  A new drone referred to as Air 2S costs less than $1,000 and can shoot video in 5.4k. The affordability allows freelance journalists to also gain perspective on different news stories. Many civilians also have access to drones, therefore they are able to contribute to photographing and videoing things they feel are important and news stories can spread even faster.

This drone technology is incredibly innovative and allows for news information to travel even faster and more authentically. This technology has solved many issues of safety for reporters. For example, capturing footage in a war zone or an area with wildfires can be risky. Using drones in these areas allows for images and videos to be safely taken. 

Many well-known news outlets have been using drones in order to capture important and interesting information. For example, NBC News did a story on Southern Ukraine in a city called Mariupol. In this city, an estimated 300 people were killed during a bombing on March 16. NBC included a drone video of the damage that came from this attack. Sending a report to Ukraine to gain insight into this story would not have been safe. The drone allowed for an aerial view of the church. A reporter, most likely, would not have been able to go inside the church to get up close photos of the damage. 

Drones have many amazing positive impacts to increase communication and allow for current events to spread quicker, but there are also some downsides to drone activity. For example, there have been reports of drones negatively impacting the environment. In California, a drone was being flown illegally overtop the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. Something went wrong with the drone and caused it to fall into a swamp due to a crash landing. This crash landing resulted in 3,000 nesting terns becoming fearful of an attack and flying away from their home. They left behind 2,000 eggs which meant an entire future generation of terns had been wiped out. 

Altogether, drones have many great impacts and allow us to better understand information with more unique visuals. Although there are some negative impacts, there are many ways that these negatives can be avoided with new laws and guidelines. Drones are incredibly innovative within the world of journalism and have the potential to change the way we view our everyday news.