Abstract:
Since 2010, journalists started their path as pilots of small radio-controlled aircrafts. These drones are creating new perspectives for news reporting and allowing humans to reach places they never could. This technology has led to new opportunities and constraints for reporters, audiences, lawmakers, and scholars. In addition, each region provides different prospects for the deployment of drone journalism. This dissertation addresses the circumstances in Ecuador to adopt this activity and analyses the different limitations and expectations, regarding technicalities, legislations, ethical issues, and journalists’ perceptions.
For this purpose, the classic Method of Inquiry in Journalism (addressing the What, Who, Where, When, How, and Why from a topic) was employed in order to foresee if Ecuador is prepared to deploy journalistic drones. First, the understanding of the term ‘Journalistic’ must be clarified. Then a profile of the journalists that will fly the crafts will be established, reflecting the willingness of Ecuadorian reporters towards these activities. However, the gap that exists between the technicalities and the field reporters is shown. In addition, the feasibility of drone journalism will be examined. For example, while technical and efficiency constraints display progressive arguments, the legal framework of Ecuador –compared to other regions– reveals a hole within aerial regulations. These limitations can also be seen as an opportunity to start practicing the activity without strict guidelines. As part of this research, an experiment with a basic aircraft was performed to face weather conditions, safety issues, and real-life problems of flying a small device while recording videos. Finally, a discussion on ethics will display how this new branch of journalism deals with openness, accuracy, transparency, and privacy; all of which are qualities that are common to any reporting endeavour.
This dissertation is intended to be the first academic research of this topic in Ecuadorian spheres. During the investigation no other related study was traced. Further implications of this subject can open new prospects for journalistic work and research of the relationship between man and machines.
