Journalism from Above: Drones and the Media in Critical Perspective

Abstract

In the last decade, the development of small, remotely operated multicopters with cameras, so-called drones, has made aerial photography easily available. Consumers and institutions now use drones in a variety of ways, both for personal entertainment and professionally. The application of drones in media production and journalism is of particular interest, as it provides insight into the complex interplay between technology, the economic and legal constraints of the media market, professional cultures and audience preferences. The thematic issue <em>Journalism from Above: Drones, the Media, and the Transformation of Journalistic Practice</em> presents new research concerning the role of drones in journalism and media production. The issue brings together scholars representing a variety of approaches and perspectives. A broad selection of empirical cases from Finland, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US form the basis of an exploration of the changing relations between the media, technology and society. The articles address topics such as: Adaption of drone technology in the newsrooms; audience preferences and reactions in a changing media landscape; the relation between journalists and public authorities who use drones; and attitudes from journalistic practitioners as well as historical and future perspectives.

Unmanned Aircraft System for Media Production: an Extension of Defense Technology

“…It assists the reporters and journalism to work easily and safety in difficult situations such as floods, drought, earthquake, landslide and fire (Tilak, 2020). The visual reporting and entertainment are the other advantages in UAS media production by presenting the new perspectives and wide frame on media (Harvard et al, 2020). The UAS media production creates a fascinated perspective of pictures and videos as well as captivates the audiences, more exciting than common media from a bird eye view.…”

A Gaussian Process model for UAV localization using millimetre wave radar

“…The development of reliable drone detection systems has become important, owing to the routine use of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) in daily life. In recent years, these devices have been used for surveillance (Boddhu et al, 2013), logistical (Kellermann et al, 2020), audiovisual (Harvard et al, 2020) and military (de Swarte et al, 2019) tasks. All of these applications require a positioning system of some kind, which provides input to the process for both detection and navigation purposes.…”

Independent Vector Analysis Inspired Amateur Drone Detection Through Acoustic Signals

“…The amateur drones (AmDrs) are equipped with advanced telecommunication, electronics and control technologies, having enormous applications in various areas e.g., remote sensing [1], navigation [2]- [4], archaeology [5], journalism [6], environmental [7], [8], and agriculture sciences [9]- [11]. The ungoverned deployment of these drones can motivate unlawful activities like transfer of restricted material or violation of defence organizations boundaries [12].…”