It was most likely a licenced and insured pilot - looked like battery failure to me, but usually large unit (this was an X8) would have had dual batteries for redundancy. Being an X8 it would have dual motors and props, so if one failed it could still fly.
The media shouldn't blow this out of proportion - if quads are banned they will regret loosing such awesome aerial footage.
The main problem, as stated in the article, is that he was flying right above the head of the competitors instead of from a distance as he was suppose to do. But that cameraman/marketing company decided instead to go for the better angle, ignoring the risk for the competitors.
The media shouldn't blow this out of proportion - if quads are banned they will regret loosing such awesome aerial footage.