Abstract:
This study was conducted to establish the empirical arguments for the utilization
of drones in investigative journalism in Nigeria. The study is situated on the tenets
of technology acceptance model while the survey research design was adopted
with questionnaire as instrument for data collection on a sample size of 100
respondents. Findings from the study indicate that the roles of drone journalism in
investigative journalism range from timelines, aerial photography to in-depth
coverage of issues. Further findings indicate that drone journalism enhances the
practice of investigative journalism to a very large extent while the challenges of
drone journalism in investigative journalism range from invasion of privacy,
safety issues to operational issues. The study recommends that drones should be
fully adopted in the practice of investigative journalism to enhance timely
completion of an issue under investigation, and journalists should be adequately
trained to understand how to operate drones as this would go a long way
toenhance their work particularly when handling investigative stories. When
using drones for investigative stories, journalists should ensure they focus on the
issue to avoid invading the privacy of others, drones should be applied in
investigative journalism to enable journalists covering such stories report with
pictorial evidence, drones should be utilized for investigative journalism to help
journalists uncover events in restive and hazardous environments and drones
should be fully deployed by media organizations in Nigeria as a tool uncover the
activities of terrorists and bandits in the North Eastern part of the country with a
view to help the security agencies arrest the security concerns in Nigeria. The
study concludes that drone journalism plays a significant role in the practice of
investigative journalism as the use of drones minimizes the cost involved in
investigative journalism, in-depth coverage of issues, timeliness as well as aerial
photography respectively.
