Drone journalism IAMCR 2015

Drone Journalism in Crisis Reporting: New

Opportunities and LimitsJRE/UNESCO Special Session on Safety of Journalists

IAMCR Montreal12.7.2015

Turo Uskali & Epp Lauk & Heikki Kuutti

Traditional crisis reporting

Covering crisis presents some of the biggest challenges in the news reporting. Taking good images or videos during wars is especially hazardous business.

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Traditional crisis reporting

Traditional crisis reporting

According to Committee to Protect Journalists (2015) in 2012–2014 altogether over 70 journalists and photographers were killed in crossfire or combat.

1121 Journalists Killed since 1992

Enter remotely controlled camera copters - drones

Towards Drone Journalism

As Goldberg et al. (2012, 28) write: “Remotely piloted aircraft will be common in the skies of many nations in the near future because they offer distinct opportunities and advantages to journalism.” Also Gynnild (2014) has argued for more research on the use of camera drones. She has proposed new terms like “robot eye witness” and “robot eyewitnessing”.

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Towards Drone Journalism

Already in 2011 the first international organization dedicated to drone journalism was created: the Professional Society of Drone Journalists (PSDJ).

It was established for discussing the ethical, educational and technological framework of drone journalism.

Towards Drone Journalism

Since then drones have been used especially in investigative, disaster, weather, sports and environmental journalism.

Drone journalism basically faces the same issues as capturing still or video images from the ground. But there are additional ethical issues involved.

Ethical Guidelines

Professional Society of Drone Journalists has laid down four basic ethical principles for drone journalists:

1) newsworthiness,

2) safety,

3) protection of privacy and

4) sanctity of law and public spaces.

Ethical Guidelines

Katherine Culver (2012; 2014)

1) safety

2) accuracy and context

3) privacy

4) conflict of Interest

Drone journalism in recent crises

The earthquake in Nepal in April 2015

A drone video by local drone operator showing the destructions of old buildings in the capital Kathmandu and elsewhere went viral.

Many international news organisations tried to use the drones, but within a week, the government of Nepal banned drones.

Drone journalism in recent crises

The War in Eastern Ukraine 2015Almost all of drone videos are made by military on both sides of the conflict, and therefore do not represent actual drone journalism. A drone video showing the destruction of Donetsk’s airport went viral in January 2015

Graham W. Phillips, a British documentarist has his own Youtube video news channel (Gwplondon 2015). He has posted several video clips from Eastern Ukraine. They are mixture of ground reporting and drone videos.

Freedom of the Press issue: legal or not

“Many countries are struggling to figure out how to regulate these devices, and many see journalists launching a flying camera as a threat to the government.”(Drone journalism professor Matt Waite)

In May 2014 more than a dozen US media organizations challenged the government's ban on the use of drones by journalists arguing that the FAA violates First Amendment protections for newsgathering.

The future of drone journalism

The Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (2015) can offer a good hint for the future of drone journalism in various countries.

1 Finland 7,52

2 Norway 7,75

3 Denmark 8,24

4 Netherlands 9,22

5 Sweden 9,47

6 New Zealand 10,06

7 Austria 10,85

8 Canada 10,99

9 Jamaica 11,18

10 Estonia 11,19

11 Ireland 11,2

12 Germany 11,47

13Czech Republic 11,62

14 Slovakia 11,66

15 Belgium 11,98

16 Costa Rica 12,26

17 Namibia 12,5

18 Poland 12,71

19 Luxembourg 13,61

20 Switzerland 13,85

The Future of Drone Journalism

It is easy to see that these countries are not in conflict zones, and therefore not the best areas for testing the crisis reporting or war reporting on drones.

However, many weather and climate related topics like storms, floods, and drought could be tested also in these countries.

Finnish case

The country, on top of the list, Finland, has a few news organizations (YLE, MTV3, STT, Helsingin Sanomat) that already use drones, but their potential is clearly recognized and a remarkable increase is expected in near future.

The Finnish Transport Safety Agency (Trafi) set very few limitations to the use of camera drones for journalistic purposes.

Finnish News Agency lost one its drones recently

Drone journalism education started 2014 in Jyväskylä, the first in Nordic countries.

Finally

The information we have gathered here is still very much fragmented.

We suggest that more research, especially comparative, on drone journalism should be developed.

UNESCO could be one important initiator and hub of international collaboration of drone journalism research.

Thank you!

[email protected]

@TuroUskali

Warsaw Nov. 12, 2011