Up in The Air — Using Drones to Cover Stories
On Monday, July 9, at 6:30 p.m., join the Society of Professional Journalists D.C. Pro Chapter and Northwestern University’s Medill Washington program to learn what you need to know to use drones for newsgathering. The panel will feature national experts on using drones to report news stories, and questions from the audience are welcome.
Come with plenty of questions. In other words, you don’t have to know how to operate a drone to be thinking about how the technology can enhance your story-telling.
- What if you don’t have a drone – can you use another organization’s equipment or aerial footage for a fee?
- Or do permits not allow sharing?
- How rigorous is the permitting process?
- Is operating a drone for newsgathering specialized enough that I should look for an educational training opportunity?
- Will journalism schools be adding such courses?
- What types of stories are most enhanced by getting an overhead view?
- What happens if your drone, or use of drone footage, captures a crime, or a person of interest?
- Can this be seized by law enforcement?
The program begins at 6:30 p.m. with refreshments and ends by 8:30 p.m. Medill Washington is near Metrorail’s Metro Center (Red/Orange/Blue/Silver lines) and is at 1325 G St. NW, Suite 730, in Washington, D.C.
Students may attend without charge, but all attendees must register in advance for building security purposes. SPJ DC Pro members can register for $2; non-members, others, $5. Please register here. An additional Eventbrite processing fee is added on.
Speaking will be:
CNN’s Greg Agvent. As senior director of CNN Aerial Imagery, he heads the nation’s leading drone-based reporting team — a team with hard-won FAA waivers allowing them to operate over people.
Attorney Charles Tobin. As the co-chair of Ballard Spahr’s Media and Entertainment Law Group, he advises media companies on the evolving rules of using drones for reporting.
Moderating the discussion is SPJ DC board member Dee Ann Divis. The award-winning reporter is a former MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellow and the editor of Inside Unmanned Systems magazine.
QUESTIONS? Email us at spjdcchapter@gmail.com