Charles Dudley Warner, a 19th-century American essayist, is credited with the famous quote “Politics make strange bedfellows.” And as drones are being used for everything from conservation to weather prediction, UAVs are starting “jump into bed” with political journalism.
While lawmakers, regulators and journalists in the U.S. wrestle with how drones may be used in news coverage, a TV news show in India is already blazing new trails in political reporting by deploying UAVs.
The Indian current-events program, Headlines Today, recently announced the launching of three news-gathering camera drones– two quadcopters and one octocopter – to bolster their election coverage by adding new video perspectives for viewers. For example, in a recent interview with political candidates, the drone hovered over the heads of TV journalists who were jostling to interview a candidate, providing Headlines Today’s viewers with an unobstructed footage of the interview.
The drones are provided by Quidich, a New Delhi-based firm billed as a “Camera-with-Wings” provider. Founded by three entrepreneurs with backgrounds in video production and engineering, Quidich found the demand for UAV services in India growing exponentially with very few companies filling the niche.
“The idea for the aerial camera actually came from our own experience. [Quidich CEO Rahat Kulshreshtha] was trying to shoot a video for which he required aerial cameras. Attempting to experiment with the camerawork being employed, he discovered that services in India for aerial footage were literally non-existent or non-affordable. It was then that the idea to facilitate such a process was seeded, and shortly after, Quidich was formed.”
UAV technology is expected to explode in India over the next decade. In May, a pizza chain in Mumbai made a test delivery using a remote-controlled, GPS-enabled drone.
And while U.S. drone operators attempt to open new markets despite unclear, often contradicting, regulatory hurdles, India’s UAV industry is calling for a common-sense, uniform approach by government officials. In a recent blog post, the Unmanned Systems Association of India urged cooperation between the government and industry to form “a centralized body to draft regulations and set standards for UAV systems.”
“The need for central planning is increasingly being felt,” the group added.
Jason is a longstanding contributor to DroneLife with an avid interest in all things tech. He focuses on anti-drone technologies and the public safety sector; police, fire, and search and rescue.
Beginning his career as a journalist in 1996, Jason has since written and edited thousands of engaging news articles, blog posts, press releases and online content.
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