The New York Times and Washington Post are among 10 of the news organizations who’ve agreed to work with Virginia Tech University in testing the effectiveness of using drones for covering news events.
The coalition also includes Advance Publications, A.H. Belo Corp., the Associated Press, Gannett Co, Getty Images, NBCUniversal, E.W. Scripps Company and Sinclair Broadcast Group.
According to a statement from the group, the point of this program is to “conduct controlled safety testing of a series of real-life scenarios where the news media could use small UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) technology to gather the news.”
Virginia Tech fits in because it is among a small number of institutions authorized to conduct testing on various civilian applications for drones while the US Federal Aviation considers rules for these systems.
Rose Mooney, the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership’s Executive Director at Virginia Tech believes the collaboration with the news organizations could lead to “a safe, efficient, timely and affordable way to gather and disseminate information and keep journalists out of harm's way.”
Planning for this project has been underway since mid-2014, during which the group has been developing several different testing procedures with aviation experts at Virginia Tech.
Worth noting is that just recently CNN announced it too would be conducting tests on the effectiveness of drones when it comes to news gathering. The cable news giant will be working with Georgia Tech University on its study.
The use of drones is quickly becoming a popular solution when it comes to covering events and creating marketable media. Numerous video production and aerial photo companies have put in formal requests with the government in hopes of being granted permission to fly drones and record footage.
Several public agencies have already been granted such rights, most of which have been for public service purposes, including security, rescue, and weather forecasting.
Experts within the drone making industry estimate that should the government be more open to civilian drone usage, it would lead to 100,000 jobs being created, and add $82 billion into the economy.
Via Phys.org
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