Free Expression-Media

Bellingcat breaks stories that newsrooms envy — using methods newsrooms avoid

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/bellingcat-navalny-russian-data-capitol-investigation/2021/01/08/e96ab9e8-449b-11eb-a277-49a6d1f9dff1_story.html by Elahe Izadi and Paul FarhiJan. 9, 2021]

The investigative collaborative — which relies on both paid and volunteer researchers combing through “open-source” digital data available to anyone with the right searching skills — has been responsible for several eye-popping scoops: pinning the crash of a Malaysian airliner in Ukraine to a Russian missile, unmasking spies supposedly behind the poisoning of a Russian double agent in England and dissecting the racist motives of the Christchurch, New Zealand, mosque mass shooter.

This week, Bellingcat plunged into an investigation of the pro-Trump mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, asking volunteers to help catalogue and preserve the hundreds of videos and photos of the event that have circulated freely online — before the posters choose to remove them — to aid efforts to identify suspects. “At the very least what we’re trying to do here is provide preservation” for the sake of future analysis, Aric Toler, who heads up Bellingcat’s training and research, told The Washington Post on Thursday.

A chain of stupidity': the Skripal case and the decline of Russia's spy agencies

<embed> https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/23/skripal-salisbury-poisoning-decline-of-russia-spy-agencies-gru </embed>

That September, prime minister Theresa May went with option two. She told the House of Commons that the two Russian assassins were Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov – adding that the police believed these names to be aliases. CCTV images from their trips to Salisbury were revealed. Also shown was the apparent murder weapon – a counterfeit perfume bottle containing the nerve agent novichok.
Paradoxically, this low-level corruption made Russia one of the most open societies in the world. Corruption was the friend of investigative journalism, and the enemy of government–military secrets.
By the time I arrived, the room was full. I spotted a reporter from the New York Times, Ellen Barry, together with leading representatives from the British and US media. It was hard to escape the conclusion that power in journalism was shifting. It was moving away from established print titles and towards open-source innovators. The new hero of journalism was no longer a grizzled investigator burning shoe leather, à la All the President’s Men, but a pasty-looking kid in front of a MacBook Air.

California man runs for governor to test Facebook rules on lying

<embed> https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/29/california-man-adriel-hampton-stands-governor-facebook-rules-lying </embed>