This article reviews the use of drones for news coverage after the ear¬thquake in the coast of Ecuador in 2016. It seeks to find newswhorty elements in videos published by international news agencies and to discover, within these elements, the journalistic roles, the gra¬tifications that audiences could obtain and the legal and ethical implications that this type of coverage entails. The Ecuadorian legislation on drones is exp¬lained within the analysis and, some le-gal loopholes that allow the use of these devices will be displayed. The study aims to be a meeting point between the goals of information professionals and the ex¬pectations of their audiences. The cohe¬sion of these two perspectives is made in order to take steps towards a clearer definition of newsworthiness in drone journalism.

Since 2010, journalists started their path as pilots of small radio-controlled aircrafts. These drones are creating new perspectives for news reporting and allowing humans to reach places they never could. This technology has led to new opportunities and constraints for reporters, audiences, lawmakers, and scholars. In addition, each region provides different prospects for the deployment of drone journalism. This dissertation addresses the circumstances in Ecuador to adopt this activity and analyses the different limitations and expectations, regarding technicalities, legislations, ethical issues, and journalists’ perceptions. For this purpose, the classic Method of Inquiry in Journalism (addressing the What, Who, Where, When, How, and Why from a topic) was employed in order to foresee if Ecuador is prepared to deploy journalistic drones. First, the understanding of the term ‘Journalistic’ must be clarified. Then a profile of the journalists that will fly the crafts will be established, reflecting the willingness of Ecuadorian reporters towards these activities. However, the gap that exists between the technicalities and the field reporters is shown. In addition, the feasibility of drone journalism will be examined. For example, while technical and efficiency constraints display progressive arguments, the legal framework of Ecuador –compared to other regions– reveals a hole within aerial regulations. These limitations can also be seen as an opportunity to start practicing the activity without strict guidelines. As part of this research, an experiment with a basic aircraft was performed to face weather conditions, safety issues, and real-life problems of flying a small device while recording videos.