ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the regulatory and ethical issues surrounding the use of drones for newsgathering. There is a debate over how much drones alter the power of the media and therefore what regulations are required. The BBC also has guidance on the use of drones for its employees which was last updated, at the time of writing, in June 2016. The organization which regulates how personal data is collected and shared in the United Kingdom is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and it has added a specific section on its website about using drones. There is always going to be a tension between regulators and the media over the use of drones for newsgathering. The codes which journalists work by, and which generally they have written themselves, share common attributes and one is that crudely, and safety aside, intrusion is justified if the public interest is strong enough.
