Journalism and drones. Challenges and opportunities of the use of drones in news production

Abstract

With drone journalism it is possible to obtain aerial images in situations that are difficult to cover, with perspective, speed, mobility, greater safety for journalists, and at a lower cost. In this paper, an attempt is made to analyse the opportunities offered by the use of drones for news production in Spain, where an emerging industry has been detected. This is followed by a debate on the circumstances and causes behind their slow incorporation into newsroom routines, such as the cost of investing in a technology with a short lifetime due to its constant evolution and high accident rates, the technical and administrative complexity involved, the lack of specialized journalists, and restrictive laws which, until only recently, limited filming to rural areas.

Keywords

• Journalism
• drone
• news story
• mass media
• aerial images