Attendees at SEJ's October 2013 Annual Conference in Chattanooga were all abuzz when they saw a demonstration [2] of an inexpensive model helicopter, remotely operated, that could transmit video of what it saw. Such gizmos might count as new media — and certainly have journalistic uses in covering everything from prairie fires to chemical emergencies.

We got so excited about drones in environmental journalism, we published an article about them [3] in the January 15, 2014, issue of SEJournal.

The federal government, which devotes enormous technical resources to spying on its citizens, now says this is illegal.

This month a Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson, Les Dorr, issued the ruling saying there was no grey area: hobbyists can legally fly video drones — no problem. But journalists can not. The FAA press office has spoken.

• "FAA on Drone Recordings by Journalists: ‘There Is No Gray Area’," [4] Mediawire/Latest News (Poynter Institute), January 6, 2014, by Jeremy Barr.