While the world knows that the Trump administration is detaining immigrant families at the U.S. Mexico border, it’s been impossible to know exactly what is happening to these families in the detention camps and how they’re being treated. Most reporters have been denied access into the camps — and those that do make it in aren’t allowed to record video or take pictures.
This has caused journalists to think of other ways to document what’s happening, and they are beginning to turn to drones fitted with video cameras. Drones have so far been used to film the “tent cities” being built to keep migrant children detained in places like Texas.
BBC is one of the few stations using drones to view the inside of these camps.
The BBC clip gives us a bird’s eye view of “unaccompanied minors” according to the US government, meaning they were found without families.
Drones Being Used as a Tool for Journalism
As with any kind of story, images and video push the narrative forward. In this case, the nation has been watching the happenings at the U.S. – Mexico border with close eyes thanks mainly to the images and video that have been distributed. Drones are giving us another piece of the puzzle to all of this.
Video gives the world access to information that the US government has been trying to keep behind closed doors. Journalist and even members of the U.S. Congress have been denied access into these camps, but it’s essential that we know what is happening, and in this case, drones are giving journalist the tools to reveal what is happening at these camps.
What do you think? Should journalists be using drones to record these detention camps when they’ve already been denied access?
