Used once before to capture pretty pictures of a frozen Niagara Falls, NBC "Nightly News" Tuesday unleashed its drone over cyclone damaged Vanuatu, east of Australia, opening a new door in how news footage will be collected.

"Our drone captured some incredible images of the damage," anchor Lester Holt bragged on his news cast.

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The story about the storm opened with footage from the drone's flight and was used later in the same story to show a village NBC's reporter was heading to.

"We sent up a drone for a better look," said reporter Miguel Almaguer.

And it didn't end there. The network's website also posted raw footage of the drone's flight.

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Last month, an NBC drone was used to fly around Niagara Falls, providing interesting pictures. But the use this week over the damaged island showed the potential for news drone use and gave a good hint on how it can be flown anywhere to capture images.

Drones have been winning a spot in news coverage recently, with CNN debuting its own earlier this year.

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Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com.