Students take flight in Missouri School of Journalism drone program
A photo taken with a drone by Alex Buchanan for the Columbia Missourian showing construction on the new Interstate 70 bridge over the Missouri River near Rocheport.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (Dec. 12, 2024) — Juniors and seniors at the Missouri School of Journalism have the opportunity to see the world from above ground through Drone Journalism, a hands-on class where students practice piloting skills and collecting media with a drone.
Dominick Lee, a producer at KOMU-TV, the Mid-Missouri affiliate for NBC, has been teaching the Drone Journalism course since 2021. Before working at the School of Journalism, Lee did photo and video work for a handful of outlets based in major media markets, such as NBC News Channel 3 in Las Vegas and KMGH in Denver.
Lee dedicates the first 6 weeks of the 16-week course to teaching students the properties of flight, FAA regulations and laws on drone flight, as well as how, when and where to fly a drone.
Throughout the first leg of the course, Lee also assists students with obtaining an official Part 107 FAA license for piloting a UAS (unmanned aircraft system). The certificate permits students to fly drones for commercial use — such as for newsroom distribution — in certain regulated, public areas.
In the last several years, thanks to the generosity of donors, more than a dozen students have successfully earned their 107 certification, with all costs covered by these contributions.
“As soon as you have the certification, which the student usually obtains by the midterm, you are a drone operating workforce candidate,” Lee said. “The Part 107 license can open the door to any industry that requires it. Agriculture, construction, real estate and engineering, to name a few.”
The Part 107 certification isn’t necessary for students to pass the class, although Lee said he incentivizes students to obtain the certification because of the professional opportunities that can come with official drone operation.
As the technology behind drones becomes more popular and as drones become more widely used for content creation and news coverage, Lee ensures that his students also have a thorough understanding of privacy law in relation to aerial photography and drone usage.
“Ethics come into question when you fly from a public space into a private one. One of the things we talk about in class is, do you have a reasonable expectation of privacy from the sky?”
Alex Buchanan is a junior at the School of Journalism who works at the Columbia Missourian as a staff photographer. He said he wants to maintain the drone piloting skills he learned through Lee’s class and hopes to apply them to his professional photography.
“In photography, your view is pretty limited — you can only go forward or back, left or right,” Buchanan said. “The drones add an additional dimension. You get to see how high certain points of views are. It adds so much personality.”
Buchanan said he initially enrolled in the class because it seemed like a fun way to obtain credits.
“I absolutely fell in love with it; I have my own license, my own drone,” Buchanan said. “I know for strategic communication; they use drones a lot. I want to see if there’s some opportunities there.”
Considering the hands-on, outside nature of drones, Lee takes his students to different parts of MU’s campus to practice flying the drone through different locations. The Quadrangle, MU’s scenic campus center, and Faurot Field, the MU Football Stadium, are two places drone students like to spend class time.
“Especially for sports, there’s a whole new way to watch football or soccer now,” said Noah Rees, a senior focusing on sports reporting. “It’s the Missouri Method, through and through.”
Updated: December 11, 2024