News Coverage with Drones in El Salvador · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

In a piece published on Global Post, Jaime Stark notes how in many Latin American countries it's very frequent to use unmanned aerialvehicle, known as drones, for news coverage. In United States, however, using drone for news and other commercial ends is banned. He writes:
[In Holy Week in El Salvador, as] hundreds of Salvadorans gathered outside El Calvario Catholic Church on Good Friday, two Prensa Grafica reporters pondered how to get their toyish camera drone into the air. They huddled over a remote control, a cellphone clipped on as viewfinder and wifi connection. One reporter held the aircraft over his head until the other revved the propellers skyward with the remote control, navigating the Catholic faithful on the ground and cables overhead.
Not long after, a second drone joined, doubling the aerial coverage and the hornet-like sound over the Holy Week procession. The scene suggested a not-so-distant future when UAVs compete for aerial photo space like photographers jockeying for the best angle.