Perspectives on drone journalism in Turkiye: Journalists' views on the use of drones

The subject of this study is the role of drone journalism as a new field within journalism. Drone journalism has emerged due to the rapid development of new communication technologies, making it crucial to define the role of drone technology in journalism. This study aims to investigate journalists' perspectives on drone technology and its effects on their professional lives. The research examines how journalists use drone technology, its contributions to their journalistic processes, and the challenges they face in detail. A qualitative paradigm was adopted for this study, and data were collected through semi-structured interviews within a phenomenological design. The data obtained were analyzed using thematic analysis with MAXQDA qualitative data analysis software. Due to resource and time constraints, the study was limited to 11 journalists working in Türkiye. The findings indicate that the use of drones in journalism is perceived positively for facilitating access, providing bird's-eye view imagery, enhancing aesthetic visuals, reducing physical and material risks in the news-gathering process, increasing the attractiveness of news, promoting objective journalism, and creating new employment opportunities. However, the findings also reveal concerns regarding the violation of personal data protection, privacy, and the boundaries between public and private domains. As a result of these findings, it can be concluded that there are debates about the meaning and use of drone journalism in the industry and that theoretical, practical and legal advances are needed. This study has limitations in terms of research methodology, sampling technique and size. Future research could be improved with new studies that are larger in scale and focus specifically on female drone journalists.