TV Stations May Start Using Military Drones Like ‘Any Other Type of News-Gathering Equipment’

The Camcopter, a drone developed for military use by Austria’s Schiebel Corporation, could very well be used by television stations and other journalists to gather news in the very near future. Considering the rise of the use of military drones in concert with law enforcement, the undeniable increase in domestic drone operations and pending explosive growth of drone use in the United States, I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised to see drones being used in news gathering as well.

According to a recent article by TV News Check, drones could be used in the newsgathering process as early as 2015 thanks to the legislation accelerating the integration of drones into the U.S. national airspace passed earlier this year. The Schiebel Corporation has partnered with Brain Farm and Snaproll Media, both U.S. companies, in order to turn the Camcopter into a platform capable of capturing high-definition, broadcast-quality footage.

Some clearly see a bright future for the use of drones in various commercial applications and especially in the field of journalism. University of Nebraska-Lincoln journalism professor Matt Waite was given a $50,000 grant from the Knight Foundation to start up the “Drone Journalism Lab” last November. Read more >>