After operating for 96 years the BBC is the world’s longest running national broadcasting organization.  Between news and radio broadcasts and entertainment programs the BBC plays a major role in British culture and awareness.  Recently the aired two programs about drones that are causing quite a stir, especially from drone manufacturing giant DJI.  The programs in question are April 15’s “The Gatwick Drone Attack” and the July 1st airing of “Britain’s Next Air Disaster? Drones”.  “The Gatwick Drone Attack” gave an in depth review of an incident that made world news last year.

December 19th through the 21st of 2019 hundreds of flights were canceled at Gatwick Airport, one of the busiest airports in Europe and England’s second busiest airport.  Holiday and business travel plans for 140,000 passengers were disrupted costing airlines $64.5 million.  The cause of this mess came when there were reports of drones being near the runways.  Any licensed drone pilot knows that flying a drone near an airport is strictly forbidden.  Even an unlicensed hobbyist drone operator would know not to fly a drone near an airport.  There is a reason these areas are restricted as a drone and airplane collision could be disastrous. 

The second program, “Britain’s Next Air Disaster? Drones” was presented by former Royal Marine Aldo Kane who is now a high-risk specialist.  The shows description states that Aldo “sets out to investigate the scale of the threat drones pose to our airports and skies – from rogue hobbyists to determined terrorist attacks. He explores what technologies are out there that governments and the aviation industry can turn to, to keep our skies safe.”  Both shows made a point of highlighting all the different ways in which drones are used and how they benefit society today.  However, the overall theme of both shows focused more on how drone can be used maliciously.

On July 4th Dr. Barbara Stelzner, Director of Marketing and Corporate Communication for DJI, published an open letter voicing DJI’s complaints about the 2 BBC shows.  Before airing the shows Horizon and Panorama, who created the programs, both consulted DJI for input.  But little to none of the information they got from those consultations were used in the either programs.  Dr. Stelzner stated that “only about one minute of an hour-long programme [Horizon] was given to the multitude of benefits that drone technology has to offer society.”  Going on to say that the BBC was “preferring to boost viewing figures by focusing on sensational, high-risk scenarios that are vanishingly rare or almost impossible.”

DJI felt that as Britain’s primary source of news and entertainment the BBC failed to present an unbiased or educational view of how drones actually impact the world.  Dr. Stelzner went on to say, “We would welcome the opportunity to work with the BBC on a ‘Drones For Good’ documentary which would seek to go some way in addressing the balance in a currently extremely one-sided, negative media landscape.”  The following day the BBC responded to Dr. Stelzner’s open letter stating that they felt the shows portrayed a justified view.  Their statement said that “From the outset, and repeatedly during the film the positive uses of drones and the efforts the industry has taken to make them safe was referred to. The film does not claim that drone technology is unsafe, but rather that in can be used maliciously when in the wrong hands.”  It does not yet seem that the BBC plans on doing another program like the one suggested by Dr. Stelzner.  Though it would seemingly be a good move if not just for boosting ratings alone.

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