Gannett, Sinclair Among Those Partnering in Drone Test

Ten media companies, including NBCUniversal, Sinclair Broadcast Group, The Washington Post, Gannett and E.W. Scripps, are partnering with Virginia Tech to test drones for news gathering. Virginia Tech is one of six organizations designated by the FAA to test drones. The unmanned aircraft are intriguing to news organizations for their image capturing capabilities.

The partnership is "designed to conduct controlled safety testing of a series of real-life scenarios where the news media could use small U.A.S. technology to gather the news," according to a statement in the New York Times, another partner in the venture.

The other coalition members are Advance Publications, A. H. Belo, The Associated Press and Getty Images.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.