<p>Drones may soon become a crucial part of the reporter’s arsenal of tools, if an innovative experiment by a journalism professor in the US proves to be successful.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Professor Bill Allen from the University of Missouri is exploring the potential merits of using the unmanned aerial vehicles for various journalistic purposes.<br /><br />“Our vision is to help lead the journalism profession responsibly and innovatively into a new frontier of public service news coverage using this new technology,” Allen said. “We think drones, if used right, have potential to help journalists perform their news-gathering and watchdog duties in our democracy,” he said.<br /><br />Allen’s fascinating class, called Science Investigative Reporting/Drone Journalism, is in its inaugural semester as part of the new University of Missouri Drone Journalism Programme, the ‘New York Daily News’ reported.<br /><br />Students, in the class, operate drones or “J-bots” as they describe them, that weigh only a few pounds each, as tools to help with reporting.<br /><br />The “J-bots” which are about the size of a basketball and each has foot-long legs, small motors with propellers and is equipped with a high-quality lightweight GoPro camera.<br />Students have so far used the camera-equipped drones to report an array of stories about prairie conservation, a hot environmental topic in the Midwest, the report said.<br /><br />However, the small robot aircraft, operated from remote control on the ground, could eventually help reporters snap aerial shots of everything from roped-off crime scenes to wildfires, and other natural disasters, where it would be hazardous or impossible for a reporter to enter, Allen said.<br /><br />“I think the kinds of stories that could really be augmented with this technology really focus on environmental stories,” he said.<br /><br />Critics already have raised issues of privacy and whether journalists might use similar craft to score in-demand celebrity photos by flying the machines over houses of the rich and famous. <br /><br /></p>
<p>Drones may soon become a crucial part of the reporter’s arsenal of tools, if an innovative experiment by a journalism professor in the US proves to be successful.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Professor Bill Allen from the University of Missouri is exploring the potential merits of using the unmanned aerial vehicles for various journalistic purposes.<br /><br />“Our vision is to help lead the journalism profession responsibly and innovatively into a new frontier of public service news coverage using this new technology,” Allen said. “We think drones, if used right, have potential to help journalists perform their news-gathering and watchdog duties in our democracy,” he said.<br /><br />Allen’s fascinating class, called Science Investigative Reporting/Drone Journalism, is in its inaugural semester as part of the new University of Missouri Drone Journalism Programme, the ‘New York Daily News’ reported.<br /><br />Students, in the class, operate drones or “J-bots” as they describe them, that weigh only a few pounds each, as tools to help with reporting.<br /><br />The “J-bots” which are about the size of a basketball and each has foot-long legs, small motors with propellers and is equipped with a high-quality lightweight GoPro camera.<br />Students have so far used the camera-equipped drones to report an array of stories about prairie conservation, a hot environmental topic in the Midwest, the report said.<br /><br />However, the small robot aircraft, operated from remote control on the ground, could eventually help reporters snap aerial shots of everything from roped-off crime scenes to wildfires, and other natural disasters, where it would be hazardous or impossible for a reporter to enter, Allen said.<br /><br />“I think the kinds of stories that could really be augmented with this technology really focus on environmental stories,” he said.<br /><br />Critics already have raised issues of privacy and whether journalists might use similar craft to score in-demand celebrity photos by flying the machines over houses of the rich and famous. <br /><br /></p>