Digital Ethics Book Project Reflection Format
 

Navigating the Ethics of Newsgathering Drones

John D. Thomas

Tuesday, December 8th, 2015

Tuesday, August 18th, 2015

Drones

First Impression:

I think it has something to do with drones being uses in news gathering.

Quote:

"It makes for better news, reliable content, and—even though we hate to say it—a better bottom line"

Reflection Proper:

Drones are prevalent here in the Philippines and in other countries. Drones are sometimes called Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and these are really unmanned but still controlled by a person. Drones before were only used by the government military where the drones were flown into sensitive territories and there is a high risk of being shut down by people there. But with the increasing technology we have now, drones can be used by normal people. The cost has gone down up to a point where regular citizens can buy them at a not so expensive cost. There are so uses of drones. People have used them as a racing competition. Just recently there was an announced Philippines competition of drones in Clark, Pampanga and their drones can be modified up to what they want as long as they finish the race. They will need to put a camera on the drone so they will be able to see where the drone will fly to. Another way to use drones are for aerial shots. Wedding videographers use these drones instead of cranes for a more dramatic shot and this makes the video extravagant.

With the risk of potential spying, drones are somewhat scary. Drones being unmanned can be hard to track, so in other countries, eagles are trained to track and attack these drones. An outsider or a spy can use a unmarked drone without serial code to spy on governments and it will be hard to know who owns the drones that is why this can lead to a problem if not addressed.

5 Things That I've learned:

Drones exists.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems is UAS.

Drones are used for news gathering.

Professional Society of Drone Journalists is PSDJ

 Code of Ethics for Drone Journalists exists.

5 Integrative Questions:

What is a drone?

What is UAS?

How can news outlets use drones?

How can agencies control drone usage?

How can the government control drone usage?