Open-Source Intelligence, Journalism and Accountability
How do journalists, researchers and civil-society groups use commercial satellite imagery, and what does it mean for the industry?
Chapter summary
Commercial imagery has made satellite intelligence public.
Key takeaways
- 1
Newsrooms, academic groups and open-source investigators use it to verify claims about wars, human rights abuses, environmental crimes, nuclear programmes and disasters.
- 2
Operators supply them through media licences, discounted academic access and donated imagery; free Sentinel data supports much of the work.
- 3
This public use is small in revenue but large in influence: it builds the industry's reputation and political support, and it tests operators' policies on what to release about conflicts.
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