therecord.media get's a lot of attention now on HN presumably because it's new and Catalin joined them.
It's not a big deal, but I think it needs to be pointed out (especially to the audience outside the US) that they are CIA funded. They should be more transparent about this.
they're obviously a threat-intel company first. So create something that generates value (that receives the funding) and then set up a company blog that poses as a "legitimate journalistic outfit without an agenda". Final step is to produce only quality content 98% of the time and the 2% of times when you should be critical to your own side turn a blind eye. Classic playbook for all propaganda operations (regardless if they're US/RU/CN/whatevs).
the tragedy of all cyber reporting is that there can be no neutral party. the moment you need to call out your own camp you'll lose support/protection and legitimacy to exist (e.g. imagine Bellingcat being vocal of anything that happens within FVEY. Unthinkable!)
all of the reports are pretty tame in comparison with what they could uncover in war zones that involve the US. Taking a swing at US LEA is hardly something to write home about. Until they give me scoops at an equal magnitude say something that shows US black sites still in operation, or another Abu Ghraib or something about Gitmo? Nobody really cares about US racist cops - that's stuff that is anyway covered by WaPo & NYT.
Give me something of the same magnitude that got exposed by Manning, Snowden or Assange and I will be happy to believe that they are "neutral". But oh wait - they'd be in exile or dead. So my point stands.
Nah. Not interested in playing your game. You stated X, I showed X was incorrect. Now you're moving the goalposts, which was fully expected.
One of the strongest messages the US sends abroad is that the 1st amendment is sacrosanct. Highlighting law enforcement violently suppressing that is extremely damaging to America's reputation.
I'm not playing any game. the goal post is not to compare apples with oranges. if the position is that Bellingcat (which markets itself as a citizen journalist type of outfit) is independent as they claim then they should be measured as such.
Nobody is moving any goalposts. Your assertion that they are independent but also are unable to highlight crimes committed by the US then they are simply not independent.
FWIW I'm not highlighting any side being bad or good but that the claim of independence needs to be viewed in relation to their alliances.
As far as I can see: Bellingcat is laundromat for Mossad, after WikiLeaks became laundromat for Russian intelligence.
They still are a citizen journalist type of outfit, they don't take direct funding from government orgs. But they have to suspect some of their anonymous analysis contributors are working with a state agenda and resources.
As a result, Bellingcat unlikely to go after Israelis in Gaza, but more likely to go after ISIS terrorists, Syria, Russia. WikiLeaks more likely to focus on US politics and NATO, than to look at Putin's finances or Russian banks.
But then all of advanced journalism becomes murkey, as you can be independant, while only looking at what your anonymous sources give you. Is NYT or WP independant when it runs an article on national security by the CIA or DoD for censorship, and securing those future juicy leads?
wait, so what is the inference here with Bellingcat? that they are funded by CIA / gov.ru? and that they tell mostly the truth, but willfully withhold certain things detrimental to their financial masters?
no. what is insinuated is Bellingcat enjoy connections with GCHQ & MI6. Eliot Higgins is close to the British IC, gives talks at Atlantic Council and trades info with them.
Bellingcat (despite the great work they do IMHO) certainly does not get Russian passport details simply by hacking or by asking some "corrupt" Russians working for the state for help. So you can probably trust most of what they say but not how they get their info or that they are simply a "hacktivist / citizen jorno" outfit (they'd be dead since long time if that would be all)
At least until I've seen them uncover something as big as Skripal or the MH17 (within the FVEY) I wouldn't believe their claims of being "independent". Which will never happen because you don't bite the hand that feeds. Anyone playing in that league will not survive very long (quite literally) unless they get security benefits needed (which requires affiliation).
There doesn't have to be a conspiracy. That protection comes at a cost of bias (it's not required when everyone around you and most importantly yourself believes you're part of the good guys).
I too found the "corrupt officials" hard to believe, but there's a surprising amount of evidence for it. In general the Russian government has a surprisingly middling level of control over society compared to somewhere like China. Other Russian news orgs also buy personal data, try looking at Meduza for example.
Part of one of their rounds of funding included investment in 2010 by In-Q-Tel, the CIA's investment arm. They are one of numerous investors, which includes Google. They are not receiving ongoing funding.
A private equity firm bought them two years ago for $780 million.
The reason that CIA contact at any point is significant is that, unlike an ordinary investment house, US intelligence agencies as a matter of course act to keep their activity secret. It stands to reason that this implies that any visible CIA involvement would indicate much invisible involvement by The Agency - and various ex-CIA agents who've gone public have basically confirmed this.
So getting funding from the CIA really is different from other thing - possibly. But the situation of all this not being known and being officially concealed produces a lot of paradoxes.
>> The deal essentially buys out earlier investors, which included GV (Google’s venture arm), In-Q-Tel (the CIA’s venture arm), IA Ventures, Balderton Capital, Mass Mutual Ventures and others — and gives them a healthy return in the process.
therecord.media get's a lot of attention now on HN presumably because it's new and Catalin joined them.
It's not a big deal, but I think it needs to be pointed out (especially to the audience outside the US) that they are CIA funded. They should be more transparent about this.