Diffusion of Drone Journalism: The Case of Finland, 2011–2020

Abstract

This article details Finnish news organizations’ adoption of drones for journalistic purposes from 2011 to 2020. The theoretical starting point of the article is Rogers’ (1962) diffusion of innovations theory, which explains how new ideas and technologies spread in societies. The main empirical data for the study were derived from a phone survey conducted among the 80 most popular newspapers in Finland. The findings reveal that drone journalism in Finland has already diffused from a few pioneering organizations to a large number of newsrooms, including regional, mid-sized newspapers. Most of the newspapers are either using in-house drones, buying commissioned images, or using both strategies. The frequency of use was found to be much higher for those newsrooms using their own drones. Finally, the article ponders possible explanations for different trajectories in the adoption of drones in various countries based on the Finnish case

Drone journalism and professional media ethics imperative discourse

“…The application of drones in journalism makes the theory a very relevant today. In this case, people can get the news very fast and more accurate, at the same time, become personalised and very subjective (Uskali et al, 2020). Also, the innovation would make news richer and personalised in delivery through the utilisation of mass and interpersonal communication through human-machine innovative communication.…”

“…Drones were previously defined as a crewless aerial vehicle initially used for military purposes. However, their use has evolved to general purposes, including journalism (Patricia et al, n.d. Hamilton,2020;Uskali et al .2020) and television (Ferguson, 2019). The use of drones in journalism is an excellent example of the diffusion of innovation; however, there are constraints.…”

COVID-19 and the “Golden Era”: Turning the page on rural, weekly newspaper production

“…Furthermore, the theory has been applied to understanding social media influence in an organization’s digital practices (Long et al, 2014; Swasy, 2016; Williams et al, 2019). While diffusion of innovations is common in studying journalistic use and adoption of technology, in investigating the theory as it relates to newspapers, past research has investigated newsrooms’ drone usage (Uskali et al, 2020); technology use in building weekly newspaper websites (Adams, 2008); and convergence in corporate journalism organizations (Lawson-Borders, 2003).…”

Can Filter Bubbles Protect Information Freedom? Discussions of Algorithmic News Recommenders in Eastern Europe

“…The concept of innovation diffusion is commonly used to study innovations in the field of journalism, such as digital-first publishing (Ekdale et al 2015), the use of social media (English 2016), or drone journalism (Uskali et al 2020). However, there are only a few studies (Bod o et al 2019;Sørensen 2013;Thurman and Schifferes 2012) devoted to the process of news personalization diffusion and all of them discuss it in the context of Western media systems.…”