As a new generation of smaller, lighter ‘disrupter’ satellites enter the market, the possibilities for journalists to use satellite imagery in their work has also opened up.
Satellite companies, namely Planet Labs and Digital Globe can provide media clients with satellite imagery in near real-time- satellite images not only an attractive visual aid to a story but a tool for newsgathering itself.
Here are some of the ways that this emerging technology can be used by journalists:
1. Verification
Images taken from space can be used to verify whether events that were large enough actually happened. The New York Times Visual Investigations team used imagery to reconstruct how a Ukrainian passenger plane was shot down over Iran. Events that are large enough to show up on a satellite image, such as explosions or environmental disasters, can also be crucially verified through satellite imagery.
2. Geolocation
Satellite imagery can be used by journalists and online researchers to confirm whether an event happened or took place, but also to identify exactly where videos or images happened.
3. Change over time
Using satellite imagery, journalists can compare photos from before and after to track large scale changes in infrastructure or landscape. An amazing example of this is the work of Texty, a Ukrainian online outlet that analysed satellite images to show how the landscape had suffered following the impact of illegal amber mining in ‘Leprosy of the Land.’
4. A Smoking Gun
Satellite images can provide the crucial piece of information that evidences an entire investigation. Such was the case in Associated Press’ 18-month-long ‘Seafood From Slaves’ investigation. Here, reporters used a satellite image showing an interaction between a cargo vessel and fishing trawlers that provided the evidence they needed to prove slavery in the fishing industry in Southeast Asia.