CNN Launches UAS Systems for Newsgathering

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CNN announced the launch of CNN Aerial Imagery and Reporting (CNN AIR). For the first time in the company’s history, CNN will have a designated Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) unit with two full-time UAS operators to fully integrate aerial imagery and reporting across all CNN networks and platforms.

The integration of this new technology into CNN operations has been based on the first media-related research partnership with the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and a direct research agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  

In 2015, CNN was selected by the FAA as one of the first three industry “Pathfinders” to develop safe uses of UAS in newsgathering.  CNN has shared data and research that has helped formulate a framework for various types of UAS to be safely integrated into the national air space and continues to work to expand the safe and legal operation of UAS in newsgathering.

According to the network’s announcement, CNN has utilized UAS to provide understanding and context, enhanced storytelling and production value. CNN’s deployment of UAS have demonstrated the breadth of the flooding in Louisiana and the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. They have also been utilized at the Republican and Democratic presidential nominating conventions, CNN presidential primary debates and town halls, and to enhance storytelling across CNN’s platforms, including the 50th anniversary of the civil rights march on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, and Anderson Cooper’s coverage of the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

“CNN’s cutting-edge development of technology to enhance the way we tell stories is a part of our DNA,” said Terence Burke, Senior Vice President of National News. “We are proud to continue the tradition with CNN AIR, and to establish a unit that will expand our technological capabilities for newsgathering.”