What's The Future of Your Video News Delivery?

London, UK--Since the inception of TV news other than a switch to color, the use and abuse of the green screen technology and live on scene live broadcasting not much has changed over five decades. 

Suddenly we have the Internet, cheap quality video cameras and big changes are rocking the world of video news delivery. 

Television news management miscreants often took great delight in making their talent that left or were jettisoned just disappear. No goodbyes, no thank you, just nothing.  

That left viewers to wonder where about the fate of those once familiar faces. Now thanks to Facebook and Twitter that vile practice has ended for good.  That along those bogus non-compete contracts preventing reporter from moving to nearby stations are gone.  

However sadly the shrinking TV news audience has cost countless jobs and made reporters in too many markets eligible for food stamps. Making a living as a television journalist seems more challenging than ever. 

The speed and quantity of news delivery today is unprecedented however the quality has faltered.  The explosion of quality video devices has at least provided a somewhat unfiltered and often unflattering view of our world.  

Even the best video is lacking watchability without creative editing and clever, well written voice overs. 

Will the population ever learn the proper and incredibly easy way to shoot, edit and publish acceptable news stories with their cell phones? Most will not but many are learning the art well. 

Unlike days in the past we no longer have to wait for news crews gather their equipment, travel to, set up and begin to cover breaking news events.  Anyone already there with a smartphone, the ability and the desire can begin on the spot reporting.  Getting content video broadcast live on platforms such as Youtube, Ustream, Livestream and Periscope is a snap. Alerting your potential viewers on Twitter and Facebook is a must. 

The only seemingly slow issue to get resolved is funneling the revenue for the content to the creator's pockets. Additionally those that publish their exciting content must also learn about promotion.

Anyone with a modern smart phone has the most important tool to report news.  After that comes photography skill, storytelling ability and effective use of editing software such as iMovie or Final Cut Pro X.  

Here is a one take video story I recently created in London about that giant Ferris Wheel called, The London Eye. Although not perfect, I simply wanted my viewers to get a sense of my experience visiting this iconic tourist attraction.  

This was all shot, edited and uploaded to YouTube on my iPhone 6 Plus.  Additionally, I used a Rode lavalier microphone and a selfie stick.

The FAA Just Proposed New Rules For Commercial Drone Use.

Washington, DC--The FAA finally came out with a proposed rule for commercial drone use.  They were far less draconian and created a somewhat reasonable approach to regulation than expected by most observers. 

The “FAA Guidelines for Model Aircraft” for non-commercial hobbyist fights will remain unchanged. 

The new rule would make Electronic Drone News Gathering possible in most situations.

The period of public comment must pass and after some tweaking the final rule will be established.  This could take up to three years.  By then the technology will change for the better and this will be liberalized somewhat.  

Below is the UAS (drone) Commercial Use Press Release for the Rule the FAA is sending out for public comment.

HIGHLIGHTS:

The FAA will require a minimal pilot UAS ground license testing requirement with recertification every two years.

No drone night flights.

No flying drones over the heads of people unless they are part of the shoot.

Drones must stay under 500 ft. maximum flight altitude.

Drones must yield to all manned aircraft.

Drone is not to exceed 55 lbs. in weight.

Maximum drone speed shall be 100 MPH.

Since public comment is required the news media clients must make their concerns known.  Because of the rapid loss of TV and Newspaper consumers and budgets drones are a salvation as helicopters are the single largest cost to TV stations. 

We can capture images without flying over the heads of people by shooting the scene from along side at a 45-degree angle.  That angle also provides for better images.  Remember the drone has the distinct advantage of flying at much lower altitudes than helicopters.

This is great news for TV and all news media organizations since they will be able to cover news from the air at a fraction of the cost of helicopters.

Until the rule becomes final commercial uses must still apply for waivers from the FAA.  I suspect that that procedure will become simplified considering the new proposed rules. 

Here is the FAA press Release:

http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=18295&cid=TW299

2015 Will be the Year of The “Newsdronie” (TV News Drone Correspondent)!

Phoenix, AZ—My spies at the FAA insist that they will very quickly authorize the commercial use of multi-rotor, mini-drones weighing in at less than three pounds for among other things, newsgathering.

Any TV station news department that has not made plans for this new technology will be left in the dirt.  The very day the drones are authorized is when the promotions departments should be heralding their new newsdronie correspondents.

They all should be up and running with two or three of these prime time ready “newsdronies” to cover routine accidents, crimes and fires.  Sending a helicopter to a school lockdown for example is foolish when you can use a drone and only pony up a fraction of the price.  

That FAA weight constraint will limit the size of the cameras that of the GoPro types.  But they can really capture epic and stunning imagery.

What that means is the local television markets can dispatch a drone pilot that’s able to operate the device, camera and edit the video with voiceovers. It's just another needed storytelling skill.   

Many stations want live shots from the news making scenes for their newscasts.  That can be done easily with almost no delay of the aerial shots. 

The drone correspondent will be the ultimate multi-media journalist.  The drone correspondent should also carry gear to obtain ground shots and video interviews too. 

The days of the helicopter pilots are numbered especially in all but the largest TV markets.  Unlike helicopters the drones are inexpensive, inherently safer and completely green. 

The drones can be sent up in less than favorable weather conditions since there are no real safety concerns. 

Nearly any news story will be more watchable with quality aerial video.   News making locations, conditions and hazards can be brought to the viewer’s screen better than ever before. 

A picture may be worth a 1,000 words but aerial video takes everything to a whole new level.

Okay let me say I want to be the first newsdronie correspondent in America!  I certainly can teach TV news journalists how they too, can be Newsdronies! 

News Media, Camera Drones and whopping Lies

Los Angeles, CA—The redundancy of reported drone news fables claiming privacy invasion and endangerment are getting very tiresome.  Okay, I agree that these stories are still somewhat novel and interesting. 

Claims that the little camera drones are nearly colliding with conventional helicopter and other aircraft are nearly always patently bogus.  Careful examination by a journalist would expose the reality from fantasy.

Police and news helicopter pilots see their career days being numbered by the threat of drones eliminating their jobs.  Helicopters cost $1,500 to $2,500 per hour to keep in the air.  The drones cost nearly nothing!

Are the motives of helicopter pilots really pure when they disparage, denounce or otherwise criticize camera drones and their operators?  

Can a little camera drone bring down a helicopter or airplane?  I won’t say it’s impossible but it is incredibly unlikely.  There are thousands of collisions between large birds and planes every year.  Occasionally aircraft suffer minor damage but aircraft fatalities or serious air accidents from birds are beyond rare.

The camera drones are zero threat to helicopters. simply because the air movement or prop-wash cause by the large blades would blow little drones far away. 

I suppose a drone could be sucked into a jet engine perhaps causing a failure of that engine but causing an actual crash would be very unlikely.

No camera drone operator wants to see his beloved and expensive little toy destroyed.  The same goes for causing any kind of damage or injury.  Flying around conventional aircraft is dangerous but, much more so to the camera drone more than anything.

The safety record of the new camera drones is stellar and spotless.  Zero fatalities or serious injuries.  The same cannot be said about any conventional aircraft or large military drones.

The news media sends out journalists with, for the most part zero experience with these things to cover the “Chicken Little” stories of how bad things almost happened and sensationalism and loathing nearly always sets in. 

The same can be said about stories of the little drones invading privacy even though they can’t see or hear through walls or roofs.

The stories of some journalists know no bounds when fictional sensationalism is better than the truth.

There is yet to be one real case of unlawful privacy invasion with a camera drone brought forward in any court.

No industry needs camera drones more than the news media.  Recent financially lean years have shut down newspapers and caused pink slips to rain in nearly every newsroom. 

The camera drones produce clear, breathtaking still and video images needed for electronic newsgathering.  News organizations can operate far better with a few camera drones out in the viewer or reader’s neighborhoods than a single conventional helicopter.

Most of America is covered by small or medium market news organizations that don’t now have nor can afford helicopters.  Drones are their obvious answer!

A conventional helicopter, pilot and sometimes a photographer must be quickly scrambled to cover breaking stories.  Then they have to get to the scene and that takes time too.  A drone can be deployed within a minute or three by an operator in the neighborhood. 

The media needs to position itself at the very front of the fight with the FAA to use these in the course of daily newsgathering. 

There is a 1^st Amendment right that also needs to be protected.  The camera drones are no different than any other piece of news equipment such as a pencil, notepad or conventional camera.

The media has to begin factually reporting drone stories taking out the fables and claims that the sky is falling as a result of this exciting new technology.

It’s far easier to win this fight now at the point of FAA regulation and legislation than years of expensive court challenges.

Tom Zebra, Anti-Police Hero or Troublemaker?

Tom Zebra, Citizen Journalist/provocateur

Los Angeles, CA—If you’re a cop in or near the City of Angels, Tom Zebra may just get in your face and under your skin. 

In the age of the cell phone camera explosion came body cams and the ever-popular GoPros. 

With the new technology police have been placed under the intrusive and unblinking eyes of millions of cameras.  A large percentage of them are in the hands of genuine antagonists like Zebra . 

The next generation of police monitoring devices is here in the form of multi-rotor camera drones.  They can be quietly deployed over any police action.  They can record video of anything taking place in plain view under the skies.   

Cops have been understandably hostile to these cameras and nationwide thousands of bogus arrests have been made of people recording them.  Cops have confiscated cell phones, cameras and their media storage cards.  Cops felt they should have a right to privacy but the courts have spoken.  They have no such right. 

Lawmakers at local levels have been sympathetic to the cop’s concerns and have unsucessfully tried to make end runs around the law that would inhibit or end the public’s rights to record police.

There is yet another side to the police/camera issues and that’s the amazing fact that the captured videos vindicate the cops well over 99% of the time.  Slowly cops are beginning to realize that these cameras and much more objective than the people using them!

Targeting cops from both land and now the air is Tom Zebra.  Zebra is a citizen journalist/provocateur.  He points his cameras where they are not wanted in various police matters. 

Zabra garnered additional cop hostility by flying his camera drone over a walled-in police parking lot.  The cops came out and actually threatened to arrest Zebra for trespassing even though he never set for inside the police parking area.  Zebra got his video and wasted no time posting it on YouTube. 

Police recently San Pedro Port police arrested Zebra and confiscated his drone as evidence.  Ironically Zebra was not photographing police, but a U.S. Naval vessel that the public was invited to both visit and photograph. Zebra’s crime was the apparent violation of a L.A. park’s ordinance. 

The little known existing law banned the use of remote controlled model aircraft in parks, beaches, horse trials or any place not specifically designated for them.  

I’m convinced that the law was drafted to target noisy fixed wing model aircraft that frightened horses posed a danger because of their speed.

One of my legal experts believes that Zebra has a first Amendment right to use his drone camera despite the L.A. Parks ordinance.  Zebra has a right to take photos.  My expert said that collecting the legislative history of the remote control ban showing it was never intended to cover the much quieter and slower moving multi-rotor camera drones would help Zebra in court.

In the meantime to the cop's chagrin Zebra’s not grounded, he apparently obtained a new drone and is back in business. 

Last but not least, are the thousands of people nationwide that have camera drones.   They are holding their breaths, waiting for lawmakers and the FAA determine the future this new and exciting industry. 

The majority of the camera drone operators I talk with are hostile to Zebra and his militancy.  They say he’s going to ruin it for everyone.  I say that idea is dead wrong.  If anything Zebra is making it better by taking the lead in challenging government tyranny. 

Someone will have to test bad laws or unreasonable enforcement.  Frankly I’d rather stand behind Zebra rather than in front of him in that regard.  We can only learn what are rights really are by the Tom Zebra’s of our world willing to test the system.

 

My Next Camera Drone Will Be Beyond Awesome!

Why is the Media is Falling For Fake Drone Stories?

Los Angeles, CA—The latest technology tool for newsgathering is taking a propaganda beating from the media.  As incredible as it seems the media is promoting ignorance about camera drones rather than enlightening their audience! 

The little drones are indeed amazing.  They can take sophisticated yet tiny cameras to incredible heights to get inexpensive video and still images in near absolute safety!  

They are definitely a novelty and local police have zero training about these devices.  They have not been around long enough for police and procedures to be developed.  The obvious best policy is to simply leave the drone operators alone. 

Cops seem to want to make arrests for drone use because they know right now they will get substantial news coverage.  However those highly publicized recent arrests of drone pilots have turned out to be absolutely bogus.

Two police helicopter pilots in New York spotted a little plastic drone in the area of the George Washington Bridge.   They chased it and then arranged for the felony arrests of two young men claiming these drone operators endangered the police helicopter!  Their own recorded radio transmissions were solid proof that the cops lied! 

Yesterday a drone pilot was arrested as a Peeping Tom when his drone was “too close” to a medical center where people were believed to be possibly undressing inside.  The fact was that this proved impossible because of reflective material on the glass window.  There certanly were no images of undressed people on the drone's camera!

Since when do people that don’t close their drapes have any reasonable expectation of privacy?

As for the camera drones they have the ultimate “black box” that will show the world in high definition video exactly what it was doing!  We can count on liars being exposed when the images are viewed. 

Many helicopter and fixed wing pilots stand to lose their livelihoods as drone operators replace them.  They have an obvious conflict of interest when it comes to making reports about drone activities.  They want them outlawed for very understandable but ulterior motivation. 

It’s simply about cost and safety.  Even if the little drones crash nobody is going to neither die nor will there be remarkable injuries or property damage.  These traditional pilots can be counted upon to hate multi-rotor drones and their operators.

Propaganda is feeding fear and loathing by the ignorant public.  Nobody stands to gain more from the camera drones that the media and the public that will be able see the world as birds do.  Why is the media falling for the deception of the drone detractors?

Drone journalists are going to be broadcasting and publishing images that were impossible until now.  The camera drones are already bringing us art, beauty, and truth.  There are really no negatives.

People are beginning argue that terrorists will use them for attacks.  They are far less powerful and destructive to aircraft or people than ordinary firearms.  People are letting their over-active imaginations rule over common sense.

The FAA is trying to deal with government concerns that these devices are dangerous.   In the hands of the media that’s true because they may discover waste, mismanagement and questionable behavior of government employees.

Cops are already in a goldfish bowl with millions of cellphone cameras waiting to catch them making missteps.  Now they are being observed from drones too!  Will cops be making arrests of drone operators to intimidate and prevent them from documenting their behavior?  History says that’s a guarantee!

We know from experience that cops have arrested thousands of photographers and cellphone users until the courts ruled that the cops were dead wrong.  Police tyranny may well be a fact of life for many camera drone pilots.  

Cameras are very dangerous instruments because they expose the naked truth.  Camera drones are a new danger that may bring us yet more truth than we can handle.   Human being have shown over and over again that they can’t handle the truth!