33

Debating Drones in the

Global Information Age
T D. S

This article examines the proliferation of drone technology, including the

growing use of armed drones by state actors, media organizations, non-profits,
and development and humanitarian actors. It analyzes the benefits and costs of
“drone journalism” and offers recommendations for developing guidelines and
frameworks for an integrative use of drones given the myriad of legal, moral,
economic, and security concerns that arise from multiple uses of drone technolo-
gies across different sectors.

INTRODUCTION

Human beings are prone to invent. We build. We destroy. We thrive

and we perish. As the philosopher John Stuart Mill wrote in 1869, “It
is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened
the day’s toil of any human being.”1 Emergent technology can disrupt the
intricate balancing act of human rewards and punishment. Nowhere are
those debates more salient than in the arena of war and peace, where the
advent of sophisticated weaponry, artificial intelligence, pilotless vehicles,
advanced 5G networks, etc. incur both benefits and costs.2
One vital area of discussion today is the phenomenon of drone
technology. Drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or
remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), have changed the landscape of
modern-day warfare, responses to humanitarian crises, and the contours
of the information age.3 Although originally designed as weapons, drone
technology has found its way into civilian use for purposes such as product
deliveries, and within the media and information space. Drones are used
both during conflict as warfighting tools and during crises as a source of

Tara D. Sonenshine is the former U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy
and Public Affairs. She recently joined the faculty of the Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy at Tufts University as Professor of Practice of Public Diplomacy.

.:  

34      

information for development and humanitarian response. Indeed, drones

are used for everything from media coverage of the weather to targeted
killings in full-scale war. Examining the intersection of drone technology
across multiple fields enables a more holistic approach to the topic, because
it enables a more integrated cost-benefit analysis.4

Drones for Public Diplomacy

In some countries like the United States, the military use of drones
remains classified information; in others, like Israel, the government does
not admit to possessing drones, but experts have nonetheless tracked their
development and use.5
While some countries avoid any public disclosure of drone programs,
others tout them. Iran shows off its drone technology in propaganda to
demonstrate its international prowess.6 China flaunts its drone technology
at public exhibitions.7 Besides using drones as public examples of mili-
tary prowess, China also uses drones for covert surveillance, especially in
international waters to patrol around disputed islands in the South China
Sea. Its expanding drone program has influenced other countries like the
United States to invest more heavily in the technology.

Drones in Changing Conflict Zones

Drones were developed and used in World War I by both the

Americans and the British. Their early model was known as “The Kettering
Bug,” a small radio-controlled aircraft. Reconnaissance UAVs were deployed
during the Vietnam War as decoys in combat. After 9/11, drones joined the
U.S. counterterrorism response, which used uninhabited armed vehicles to
strike at non-state organizations like ISIS.8
Today, drones are a reality of warfare. More than 100 militaries use
some level or form of armed or unarmed drone capability, and a growing
number have experience using these systems in combat.9 In the equivalent
of an arms race, drones are being traded and sold to influence the outcomes
of conflicts.10
Since the late 1980s, scholars, experts, think tanks, and journalists
have dedicated enormous resources to analyzing drones, particularly in
global conflicts. An entire center at Bard University, the Center for the
Study of the Drone, is dedicated to the use of drones, and annual reports
monitor their usage.11
Although most foreign policy observers focus on the use of U.S.

.:  

        35

drones in active war zones like Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, and the wider
Middle East, drone warfare is proliferating in sub-national conflicts with
a tit-for-tat outcome, as in the case where a Saudi-led coalition launched
a military strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen in response to a drone attack
aimed at Abu Dhabi.12 Drones are increasingly exported from countries
like Turkey in situations like the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and to tip
the balance of power in Ethiopia.13 Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed pulled off
a stunning reversal in the year-old conflict with the help of armed drones
supplied by the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Iran.14 Unlike a major
international armed conflict, governed clearly by traditional international
norms and laws, sub-national conflicts using drones challenge ethical rules,
and expands the potential humanitarian damage to civilians.
Additionally, adding to the use of conventional and advanced
weapons, drones are being used in Ukraine by both sides of the conflict.
Russia uses them to rapidly locate and fire onto Ukrainian positions,
whereas Ukraine purchased Turkish-made drones in 2019 for defensive
measures.15 The expanding deployment of drones in active wars risks
lengthening conflicts and complicating the paths to diplomacy. With
so much technology coming from so many different directions, warring
parties are loathe to lay down their arms.

The Consequences of U.S. Drone Strikes

When armies utilize uninhabited vehicles armed with precision

weapons, the damage can be enormous. Yet the public sees little of the
actual strikes, in contrast with traditional armed conflicts characterized by
higher levels of battlefield transparency.16
In-depth reporting on the impact of U.S. armed drones by The New
York Times and others shed light on the increasing concerns over inadver-
tent killing and destruction despite the “precision” nature of drone warfare.
The New York Times has an ongoing project to capture the data on the
impact of drone strikes.17 This data has revealed that:
• In January 2022, three people were killed and six were injured after
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement claimed responsibility for an
alleged drone attack on the United Arab Emirates. Shortly afterward,
the Saudi-led coalition claimed that it had managed to down eight
drones launched in the direction of Saudi Arabia.
• In 2015, U.S. forces thought they were hitting a terrorist in Iraq;
they killed a child. In 2016, a bombing mission against an ISIS target
went awry and killed 120 innocent villagers in northern Syria.18

.:  

36      

• In 2017, an Iraqi family and three nearby civilians lost their lives
when a U.S. bomb hit the wrong target.
• In 2019, dozens of civilians were killed in a drone bombing in Syria.
Furthermore, in Afghanistan during August 2021, American officials
said a drone strike in Kabul had destroyed a vehicle packed with bombs, but
further investigation revealed the strike killed ten members of one Afghan
family. Alongside death and destruction came questions of accountability,
reparation, and legal recourse for victims, and an official apology by the
U.S. government. But instead, the information was hard to uncover; it
took a Freedom of Information request for The New York Times to be able
to fully report on the details of the incident, and the loss of civilian life
from drones has led many experts to reevaluate their use, reflecting the
costs and trade-offs inherent in any drone debate.19
Foreign policy scholar Audrey Cronin has argued recently for sharply
curtailing drones for military use in Afghanistan for counter terrorism
over-the-horizon tactics. According to Cronin,
“By increasing its reliance on drone strikes, Washington will be
embracing a tactic that played a major role in the United States’ stra-
tegic defeat in Afghanistan…Errant strikes, especially those that hit
children, can inflame local populations and help extremists recruit
new members. Despite years of withering “decapitation strikes”
against terrorist leaders, one estimate found that there are more than
four times as many Islamist extremists worldwide now as there were
on September 11.”20

Clearly, drone errors that cause civilian physical injuries and mental
trauma tend to radicalize populations and deepen conflict.
Other experts have suggested stricter rules and restrictions on military
uses of drones, conceding that drone attacks have played an important role
in fighting terrorism and weakening and killing insurgents, including the
leadership of al-Qaeda, the Islamic State (ISIS), and various other terrorist
groups. These experts argue that we cannot always have troops everywhere.
In a recent Foreign Affairs article, authors Paul Lushenko, Sarah Kreps, and
Shyam Raman examined former President Obama’s approach to airstrikes
in Pakistan and found that a standard of near certainty precision for U.S.
drone strikes reduced civilian casualties. They note that “stringent targeting
standards might save innocent lives in theaters such as Iraq and Syria, too,”
without compromising counter-terrorism goals.21

.:  

        37

Drones as a Tool of Development

As the sophistication of drones has increased with better targeting

capabilities and range, so has their use expanded in non-military sectors.
According to the FAA, there were almost a million drones registered in the
United States in 2019. The ways we use drones range from recreational use
to commercial application to weather reporting.22
Drone technology can be lifesaving for humanitarian assistance.
Information is vital during international strife, and drones provide an
overhead view of events including floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes.23
In countries lacking robust telecommunications and transportation infra-
structure, drones allow for relatively low-cost responses to human disasters
with timely assistance. The World Bank is actively engaged in projects using
drones. Drones can make fast product deliveries of wiring, supplies, and
tools and are utilized in strengthening transportation systems and internet
connectivity throughout such countries.24
There are many examples of drones assisting in crises:
For one, drones surveilled the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake in
2015, and the information captured facilitated the delivery of assistance.
Several agencies used drones for search and rescue missions and to map out
toppled monuments, ruined heritage sites, and devastated homes.25 More
recently, vaccination delivery for Nepal using drones is considered state-of-
the-art humanitarianism.26
In another case of humanitarian disaster response, drones enabled
access to difficult to reach regions in Tonga following a volcanic eruption
in the Pacific Island nation in January 2022. This was not the first time
drones were used in this capacity: the World Bank used drones to support
the government of Tonga in its Rapid Damage Assessment after Cyclone
Gita. A fleet of the World Bank’s drones were transported to Tonga with
the support of the Australian government. Drone mapping proved crucial
to helping Tonga’s government determine priority areas for recovery and
reconstruction.27 Drones have also proven useful in the case of vaccine
delivery, as in 2014, when Doctors Without Borders pioneered the use of
drones to deliver vaccines and medicine in Papua New Guinea, while the
World Health Organization used a similar program in Bhutan and India
for medical support during epidemics.28
The International Organization for Migration has been using drones
since 2012 to respond to victims displaced by natural disasters. Other aid
organizations deliver vaccines to Haiti or help with connectivity during
emergencies.29 Drones assist with elevation studies and cartography.30

.:  

38      

Finally, the World Wildlife Fund uses drones to prevent poaching in

Namibia. Drones can also plant seeds and pollinate crops.31

Drone Journalism

Just as information is critical for warfare and development, it is a

fundamental tool for media organizations. Reporting can be enhanced by
visual imagery from basic photography to more advanced forms of broad-
casting. Hence, the arrival of “drone journalism.”32
“Drone journalism” as a formal field of study emerged in 2011 when
The New York Times announced its use of the technology.33 In that year,
various news organizations attempted to cover protests in New York during
the Occupy Wall Street movement. Media outlets benefitted from the work
of a citizen journalist, Timothy Pool, who sought to provide a live feed
of Occupy Wall Street, offering a unique perspective with footage from a
modified helicopter that circled the protests.
That year also saw the use of a drone by a Polish firm, RoboKopter,
to cover protests in Warsaw. Again, technically a form of surveillance, it
was controversial, leading many to question national security, privacy, and
freedom of information.34
Two years later, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) launched
an 18-inch, six-rotored, unmanned drone to report on a controversial high-
speed train being planned for travel from London to Manchester.35
What photojournalists and news gathering organizations have grown
to understand is that images captured from above ground—or even below
ground—with relatively low-cost drone technology can enhance timely
stories, but not without causing controversy and conflict with law enforce-
ment and national security officials. Drones can capture images that a basic
camera on the ground simply cannot, enhancing viewer opportunity and
allowing important stories to come to light However, civilian drones have
the potential to get in the way of ongoing military assistance operations,
causing conflict. For example, law enforcement officials often cite drone
interference during drug busts or sting operations. It is perhaps ironic
that news organizations use drones to amplify audience reach and news
coverage of military conflicts around the world while the same technology
is used by armies to wage war.36
Despite their negative reputation, some drones do good work. CNN’s
Karl Penhault narrated drone footage for his coverage of typhoon Haiyan
in the Philippines.37 Take Josh Haner, a “photo futurist” for The New York
Times and one of the early adopters of drone technology. Josh said,

.:  

        39

“The first drone images I made were on a trip to Greenland’s ice

sheet, where I captured images of a meltwater river flowing across the
top of the ice…I used a drone to show that the second-largest lake in
Bolivia had dried up, leaving boats stranded in the sand and a fishing
community having to reinvent itself. More recently, I was able to get
an aerial angle of the giant moai statues on Easter Island showing
their proximity to an eroding coastline, which would not have been
possible any other way.”38

Drones are a logical extension of media development. What began

as simple radio technology for journalists in the late 1800s morphed into
satellite television in the 1960s and the Internet of Things in the 1980s.
Alongside traditional television news came the expansion of cable televi-
sion with a range of viewing choices, and the parallel exponential increase
of social media reach and influence. Demand for news also grew as choices
expanded. Media organizations had long used airborne technology to cover
weather beginning with news helicopters in the late 1950s.39
As with all technological advances, difficult issues surround drone
journalism when it comes to sources and attribution. Traditional media
involves reporters asking if they can record a conversation or use a quote
“on the record.” But drones don’t seek permission. Nobody signs a waiver
when a drone captures a crowd. This puts an enormous burden on news
organizations and the citizens they cover to use it responsibly and respond
when increasing limitations are placed on the media organizations by
governments.
In September of 2021, the El Paso Times in Texas used drones to track
migrants. That information flow was disrupted by federal officials charging
that the use of such technology could be dangerous to Border Patrol and
interfere with law enforcement. Court cases emerged as media outlets chal-
lenged the bans based on First Amendment freedom of speech issues. The
opposing side argues of the potential for interference in missions.40 Often,
in the quest to report on drone usage by governments, media outlets are
blocked and find ways around the barriers.41, 42
Regulation of drone activity varies country by country with complex
rules around registration and usage. The Reporters Committee for Freedom
of the Press has been examining journalistic and ethical questions, seeking
to understand where and when there are legitimate security issues and how
reporters might face unfair barriers to coverage.43
Moreover, there is the added problem of disinformation today and
ensuring that news coverage is independent from state control. Authoritarian
regimes often seek to limit the flow of information and drones for media

.:  

40      

purposes could pose challenges. Major powers like Russia and China are
constantly employing new tools to stop information-gathering—tracking
online internet activity and quashing freedom of the press. Often these
restrictions are not visible. Whether or not they can track drone coverage
and make the same kinds of arrests, detentions, and hacking of journalists
in the sky as on the ground is at issue.44; 45

Recommendations for Drone Technology Sector by Sector

Given the challenges implicated with the growing use of drones,

how do we assess the new drone arena and create frameworks that address
multiple challenges for media, crisis response, and the military? As drones
become more widespread in many fields, how do we avoid a world of
“drone swarms,” and congested skies where conflict among drones eclipses
the stories they cover?
First, on the military side, we need a data-driven way of declassifying
and estimating injuries from armed drones and death in airstrikes from
precision drones. Information about the impact of military incidents from
drone use is illuminating for historical purposes but also to engage societies
in action and to temper the impulse to engage in conflict. If people don’t
see war in the traditional sense of uniforms and weapons, they are not
likely to protest it. But if the damage from airstrikes and drone attacks can
be measured and made visible, the public will be able to better contextu-
alize the human toll.
Second, we need to encourage drones for development to address a
multitude of crises like climate change, migration patterns, energy needs,
and public health issues like the pandemic. The University of Southern
California’s Institute for Global Health is conducting online courses on
the use of drones for global health.46 Given the pandemic raging around
the world, this kind of model can be broadened to include multiple stake-
holders just as climate change creates new models of cooperation with the
developing world.
Third, as the field of “drone journalism” evolves, it must include
training of reporters on the proper, safe use of the technology and the
ethical dimensions of drones vis-à-vis privacy. Drone journalism often
lacks the human judgment of a skilled reporter and editor, using footage
that is raw, covering events unfolding live, sometimes without context.47
There are many journalism programs around the United States and
the world offering courses about drones, some of which are worth mention:

.:  

        41

• The College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the

University of Nebraska-Lincoln established the Drone Journalism
Lab in November 2011 as part of a broad digital journalism and
innovation strategy.48
• The University of Missouri School of Journalism has a program
training the next generation of what they call “dronalists,’’ including
controlling drone traffic at news scenes, protecting First Amendment
and airspace rights while using drones for news coverage, creating a
culture of safe, responsible drone operators in the media.49
• University of Kentucky journalism students are learning to gather
news in a drone journalism class which focuses on aerial reporting
and drone coverage.50
• The Poynter Institute in Florida, a major media training organiza-
tion, offers courses on the ethics of drone journalism. More than
325 journalists and journalism educators have been trained in ethical
and safe drone flying procedures. There are workshops on producing
a “code of drone journalism ethics” on journalism and photojour-
nalism ethics policies.51

CONCLUSION

Difficult as it may seem, we need a global approach to drones.

Every country should have a national action plan on drones incorporating
civilian, media, and military usage.
A master plan on drone technology will always be limited by the vari-
ability in countries with differing forms of government and by the multiple
uses of drone technology across sectors. But we must aggregate ideas in a
more centralized way to address how nations can work together to estab-
lish global rules regarding drone usage. Many of our institutions and ways
of approaching international affairs are based on old-fashioned ways of
looking at regional instead of global issues. Many of today’s problems
require completely new multilateral organizations. In the case of drone
technology, a regional approach will not suffice given the global nature of
events, crisis response, humanitarian assistance, and public health.
The United States should play a leadership role in moving the drone
conversation forward, which begins with getting its own house in order.
Indeed, American technological prowess and strong legal research on drone
usage would help in leading other nations to fashion new rules. In the
United States, for example, the legislative branch is often in conflict with

.:  

42      

the executive branch, and drone technology is a source of enormous debate

between agencies. Congress seeks to regulate drone activity to avoid civilian
casualties.52 The Biden administration is conducting its own review.53
Developing countries and non-state actors also need to be part of
the dialogue. Since drone usage is of transnational importance, it is vital
to have a global roadmap on drones akin to what is taking place in cyber
security to align ethical, legal, and political concerns. Authors like Seth J.
Frantzman, noting the absence of a unified global approach to deal, are
suggesting a “drone doctrine”—an entirely new framework incorporating
legislation and codes of behavior on the military side and laying out the
risks of drones by non-state actors against the United States and other coun-
tries. According to Frantzman, “Terrorist groups already have sophisticated
engineering they use to build bombs. There was no reason they wouldn’t
eventually build drones.”54 That raises new questions of anti-drone defense
systems to interfere with unwanted drones or UAVs.
Similarly, arguments that occur around the use of drones are labo-
rious. Valuable time is lost that could be put into the actual work of drone
policy, with appropriate guidelines to prevent injury and death. In the end,
societies require transparent rules of the road to navigate challenges and
opportunities, especially with innovations that can have life-saving value
but with attendant risk.
Technology marches on. Every nation seeks to have cutting-edge
innovation to produce and deliver goods, protect its people, and respond
to crises while delivering state-of-the-art information. When it comes to
drone technology, balancing risk and reward must animate this vital global
conversation. The next drone event is just around the corner. f

ENDNOTES
1 John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (London: Longman, Roberts & Green, 1869).
2 Seth J. Frantzman, Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machines, Artificial Intelligence and the
Battle for the Future (New York: Bombardier Books, Post Hill Press, 2021), 1-2.
3 Dan Gettinger, “Inside Unmanned Systems: 5 Good Questions,” Autonomous Media,
April 27, 2020, https://insideunmannedsystems.com/five-good-questions-dan-
gettinger/.
4 Mallory Shelbourne, “New Counter-Drone Strategy Calls for ‘Holistic’ Approach
Across Services,” U.S. Naval Institute News, January 12, 2021, https://news.usni.
org/2021/01/08/new-counter-drone-strategy-calls-for-holistic-approach-across-
services.
5 Seth J. Frantzman, “Iran Shows Off Dozens of Drones in Military Parade,” The
Jerusalem Post, April 18, 2021, https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/iran-
shows-off-dozens-of-drones-in-military-parade-665482.
6 Ibid.
7 Joanna Frew, “Crowded Skies, Contested Sea,” in Drone Wars, October 2020.

.:  

        43

8 Jimmy Stamp, “Unmanned Drones Have Been Around Since World War I,”
Smithsonian Magazine, February 12, 2013, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-
culture/unmanned-drones-have-been-around-since-world-war-i-16055939/.
9 Frantzman, Drone Wars, 3-4.
10 Dan Gettinger, “Weapons of the Future: Trends in Drone Proliferation,” Defense News,
May 25, 2021, https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2021/05/25/
weapons-of-the-future-trends-in-drone-proliferation/.
11 Dan Gettinger, “13 Answers Questions about Drones and Other Unmanned Systems,”
Bard News, May 22, 2020, https://www.bard.edu/news/dan-gettinger-13-answers-
questions-about-drones-and-other-unmanned-systems-2020-05-22.
12 Tzvi Joffre, “Saudi Coalition Strikes Houthis after drone attack on UAF,” Jerusalem
News, January 17, 2022, https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-692806.
13 Kareem Fahim, “Turkey’s Military Campaign beyond Its Borders Is Powered by
Homemade Armed Drones,” The Washington Post, November 29, 2020, https://
www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/turkey-drones-libya-nagorno-kara-
bakh/2020/11/29/d8c98b96-29de-11eb-9c21-3cc501d0981f_story.html.
14 Declan Walsh, “Foreign Drones Tip the Balance in Ethiopia’s Civil War,” The New
York Times, December 20, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/20/world/
africa/drones-ethiopia-war-turkey-emirates.html.
15 Isabelle Khurshudyan and David L. Stern, “Why Ukraine’s Turkish-Made Drone
Became a Flash Point in Tensions with Russia,” The Washington Post, January 15, 2022,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/15/ukraine-russia-drones-turkey/.
16 Charlie Savage, Eric Schmidt, Azmat Khan, and Christoph Koettl, “Newly Declassified
Video Shows U.S. Killing of 10 Civilians in Drone Strike,” The New York Times,
January 19, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/12/18/us/airstrikes-
pentagon-records-civilian-deaths.html.
17 Michael Levenson, “What to Know About the Civilian Casualty Files,” The New
York Times, December 8, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/18/us/airstrikes-
civilian-casualty-files-pentagon.html.
18 Jack Detsch, “Ukrainian Pilots Push Back on U.S. Provided Drones,” Foreign
Policy, June 21, 2022, https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/06/21/ukraine-us-drones-
pushback/#:~:text=The%20Ukrainian%20pilots%20said%20that,during%20
the%20battle%20of%20Kyiv.
19 Azmat Khan, “The Civilian Casualty Files: Hidden Pentagon Records Reveal Patters
of Failure in Deadly Airstrikes, Part I, The New York Times, December 18, 2021,
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/12/18/us/airstrikes-pentagon-records-
civilian-deaths.html.
20 Audrey Kurth Cronin, “The Future of America’s Drone Campaign,” Foreign Affairs,
October 14, 2021, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/afghanistan/2021-10-14/
future-americas-drone-campaign.
21 Paul Lushenko, Sarah Kreps, and Shyman Raman, “A More Just Drone War Is Within
Reach: The Case for Tighter Targeting Restrictions,” Foreign Affairs, January 12, 2022,
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2022-01-12/more-just-drone-
war-within-reach.
22 “Drones by the Numbers,” Federal Aviation Administration, https://www.faa.gov/uas/
resources/by_the_numbers/.
23 Paul Boutin, “Drones that Save Lives: Meet Humanitarian Aid’s Newest Tool,” USC
News, June 6, 2018, https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/transport/brief/drones-for-
development.
24 Ibid.

.:  

44      

25 Matt McFarland, “In Nepal, A Model for Using Drones for Humanitarianism
Emerges,” The Washington Post, October 27, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/
news/innovations/wp/2015/10/07/in-nepal-a-model-for-using-drones-for-humani-
tarianism-emerges/.
26 Adriana Lembcke Berninzon and Ornipha Vongasemjit, “Potential Benefits of Drones
for Vaccine Last-Mile Delivery in Nepal,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
Partnership with UNICEF, October 4, 2021, https://www.unicef.org/supply/stories/
drones-cost-effective-solution-boost-nepals-immunization-efforts-hard-reach-areas.
27 Damien Cave, Isabella Kwai, and Eric Nagourney, “An Island Nation Covered in
Ash Now Worries About a Covid Intrusion,” The New York Times, January 21, 2022,
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/18/world/australia/tonga-volcano-covid.html.
28 “Drones as Humanitarian Tools,” Doctors Without Borders, June 27, 2017, https://
www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/drones-humanitarian-tools.
29 United Nations, Relief Web, International Organizations, https://reliefweb.int/report/
haiti/iom-haiti-unmanned-aerial-vehicle-uav-technology.
30 Alex Williams, “The Drones Were Ready for this Moment,” The New York Times, May
23, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/23/style/drones-coronavirus.html.
31 Elisha Fieldstadt, “Air Shepherd Uses Drones to Stop Elephant and Rhino Poachers
in Africa,” NBC News, April 4, 2015, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/air-
shepherd-uses-drones-stop-elephant-rhino-poachers-africa-n335801.
32 Will McDonald, “How to Fly Drones for Journalism in the U.S.,” Poynter Institute,
April 21, 2017, https://www.poynter.org/educators-students/2017/how-to-fly-
drones-for-journalism-in-the-u-s/.
33 Robert Mackey, “Drone Journalism Arrives,” The New York Times, November 17,
2011, https://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/drone-journalism-arrives/.
34 Sean Captain, “Livestreaming Journalists Want to Occupy the Skies with Cheap
Drones,” Wired Magazine, January 6, 2012, https://www.wired.com/2012/01/occupy-
drones/; Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg, “Unbelievable Robokopter Footage of
Warsaw Riots,” The Atlantic, November 16, 2011, https://www.theatlantic.com/
video/index/248568/unbelievable-robokopter-footage-of-warsaw-riots/.
35 “UK Drones: Concern over Increase in Use,” BBC News, October 22, 2014, https://
www.bbc.com/news/uk-29717771.
36 Paul Lushenko, Srinjoy Bose, and William Maley, How the Media is Making Use of
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (New York: Routledge, 2017), 2.
37 Phil Chamberlain, Drones and Journalism: How the Media Is Making Use of Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles (London: Routledge, 2017).
38 James Estrin, “Documenting Climate Change by Air, Land and Sea,” The New York
Times, May 14, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/lens/climate-change-
josh-haner-air-land-and-sea.html.
39 Chamberlain, Drones and Journalism.
40 Grayson Clary, “Controversy Flares up over Drone Journalism at the Border,” The
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, September 27, 2021, https://www.rcfp.
org/drone-journalism-at-the-border/.
41 Savage et al., “Newly Declassified Video.”
42 Michael Levenson, “What to Know About the Civilian Casualty Files,” The New
York Times, December 8, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/18/us/airstrikes-
civilian-casualty-files-pentagon.html.
43 Grayson Clary, “Technology and Freedom of the Press,” Reporters Committee Blog,
September 27, 2022, https://www.rcfp.org/journals/drone-journalism-begins-slo/.

.:  

        45

44 “Russia: Year of Doubling Down on Internet Censorship: Blocking, Oppressive Laws,

Pressure on Tech Companies,” Human Rights Watch, December 24, 2021, https://
www.hrw.org/news/2021/12/24/russia-year-doubling-down-internet-censorship#.
45 Beina Xu and Eleanor Albert, “Media Censorship in China,” Council on Foreign
Relations, February 17, 2017, https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/media-censorship-
china.
46 Paul Boutin, “Drones That Save Lives? Meet Humanitarian Aid’s Newest Tool,” USC
News, June 6, 2018, https://news.usc.edu/143636/drones-humanitarian-aid-can-save-
lives-usc-experts-online-class/.
47 Will McDonald, “How to Fly Drones for Journalism in the U.S.,” Poynter, April
21, 2017, https://www.poynter.org/educators-students/2017/how-to-fly-drones-for-
journalism-in-the-u-s/.
48 “About the Lab,” Drone Journalism Lab, https://www.dronejournalismlab.org/about
(accessed March 29, 2022).
49 “Drone Journalism,” Missouri School of Journalism, https://journalism.missouri.edu/
tag/drone-journalism/ (accessed March 29, 2022).
50 Meg Mills, “Journalism Students Take to the Sky to Learn from a Bird’s Eye View,”
UKNow, January 22, 2019, http://uknow.uky.edu/uk-happenings/journalism-
students-take-sky-learn-birds-eye-view.
51 Vicki Krueger, “Announcing Poynter’s 2017 Drone Journalism School,” Poynter,
January 30, 2017, https://www.poynter.org/newsletters/2017/announcing-poynters-
2017-drone-journalism-school/.
52 Catie Edmondson, “Calling Civilian Casualties a ‘Failure,’ Democrats Urge Biden
to Do Better,” The New York Times, January 20, 2022, https://www.nytimes.
com/2022/01/20/us/politics/democrats-biden-civilian-casualties.html.
53 Ibid.
54 Frantzman, Drone Wars, 1-2.

.:  