Television network Fusion has joined the coalition of news media companies partnering with Virginia Tech to test small unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
TV Network Joins News Media Coalition for UAS Testing
The partnership between the coalition and Virginia Tech is designed to conduct controlled safety testing of a series of real-life scenarios where the news media could use small UAS technology to gather the news.
With its news and information programming focused on an increasingly diverse millennial audience, Fusion will add important perspective to the cooperative effort, the coalition says.
‘We could not be more pleased to be working with Virginia Tech and the coalition on this exciting project,’ says Isaac Lee, CEO of Fusion. ‘We want Fusion to be a laboratory for experimentation and innovation when it comes to storytelling. New technologies continue to change the way we see the world – often giving us a more clear, bold, authentic view of news events in real-time.’
Fusion is the 11th media outfit to join the coalition. The others are Advance Publications Inc.; A.H. Belo Corp.; The Associated Press; Gannett Co. Inc.; Getty Images; NBCUniversal; The New York Times Co.; The E.W. Scripps Co.; Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.; and The Washington Post.
The coalition will begin testing small UAS using protocols drafted by a group of journalists from coalition member companies. The testing protocols drafting group was led by Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association.
The coalition has been working since mid-2014 through law firm Holland & Knight LLP to develop the testing program with Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech leads the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership, one of six test sites established by Congress to collect data on the use of UAS.
