Bellingcat

Bellingcat (stylised as bell¿ngcat) is a Netherlands-based investigative journalism website that specialises in fact-checking and open-source intelligence (OSINT). It was founded by British journalist and former blogger Eliot Higgins in July 2014. Bellingcat publishes the findings of both professional and citizen journalist investigations into war zones, human rights abuses, and the criminal underworld.

Bellingcat is an independent international collective of researchers, investigators and citizen journalists using open source and social media investigation to probe a variety of subjects – from Mexican drug lords and crimes against humanity, to tracking the use of chemical weapons and conflicts worldwide.

Quotes

• Bellingcat is an independent international collective of researchers, investigators and citizen journalists using open source and social media investigation to probe a variety of subjects – from Mexican drug lords and crimes against humanity, to tracking the use of chemical weapons and conflicts worldwide. With staff and contributors in more than 20 countries around the world, we operate in a unique field where advanced technology, forensic research, journalism, investigations, transparency,and accountability come together.
  • About

• Bellingcat has been deemed such a threat to Russia that we've been declared a foreign agent. I guess this is the Russian Nobel Prize?
  • Bellingcat founder Elliot Higgins quoted in Reuters (8 October 2021)

• There are things that can be done as part of investigations that aren’t particularly difficult, but require the sort of personality that finds it rewarding to dig through huge amounts of rubbish to find that rare piece of gold that adds something to an investigation. And when working with social media and open-source information, that’s a pretty key trait.
  • Bellingcat founder Elliot Higgins quoted in [1], Columbia Journalism Review (12 January 2015)

• We are willing to continue our investigation and correct mistakes, provided the Kremlin takes a clear stand. It is up to the Kremlin to prove why the facts we have presented are mere coincidences. The Kremlin needs to prove us wrong.
  • Bellingcat's Christo Grozev, from interview with Deutsche Welle (17 December 2020) about Navalny report

Quotes about

• [O]ne of the first networks to develop open-source methods into a reporting style of their own and attract a critical mass of people who are good at this work.
  • Jay Rosen, quoted by TIME (2 March 2021)

• The advantage of having Bellingcat doing it is that you don’t have to have a sources-and-methods debate within your government.
  • Daniel Fried, quoted in Foreign Policy (17 December 2020)