Was A Shot Of The Selma, AL Edmund Pettus Bridge Instrumental In The Civil Rights Movement

CNN has aired what it says in the first aerial footage gathered legally for use by a media outlet under its FAA waiver.

Mulitchannel News reports that a spokesperson for the cable network said its aerial footage of the Selma, AL Edmund Pettus Bridge during a segment of the news show "New Day" was "the first-ever FAA-authorized use of UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone] video for news-gathering." The bridge was a focal point of the events that came to be called "Bloody Sunday" during the civil rights movement.

The FAA approved exemptions for some TV and movie producers to use UAVs for shooting video last fall, and CNN entered into its agreement with the agency in January of this year. At that time, FAA administrator Michael Huerta said “unmanned aircraft offer news organizations significant opportunities. We hope this agreement with CNN and the work we are doing with other news organizations and associations will help safely integrate unmanned newsgathering technology and operating procedures into the National Airspace System.”

(UAV image from file. Not CNN aircraft)

FMI: CNN Video, www.faa.com