IMO that one's fairly obvious. There's a narrative that needs to be sold about a foreign policy matter. But if the CIA/US gov just comes out and says "Syria chemical attacks" - no one believes it - or no one cares. So a "citizen-journalist" recreates that narrative using open sources. The conclusion is already known, and you have the benefit of having real intelligence gathered by satellites, agents, etc., so you know what happened and what didn't. Then you piece together a story that sounds plausible. It's like when the police catch someone with drugs via the NSA or by harassing random minorities, but then have a friend call in an anonymous tip so they don't have to tell the truth in court.
Bellingcat/Elliot Higgins specifically takes money from the National Endowment for Democracy, so that's pretty much all you need to know.
IMO that one's fairly obvious. There's a narrative that needs to be sold about a foreign policy matter. But if the CIA/US gov just comes out and says "Syria chemical attacks" - no one believes it - or no one cares. So a "citizen-journalist" recreates that narrative using open sources. The conclusion is already known, and you have the benefit of having real intelligence gathered by satellites, agents, etc., so you know what happened and what didn't. Then you piece together a story that sounds plausible. It's like when the police catch someone with drugs via the NSA or by harassing random minorities, but then have a friend call in an anonymous tip so they don't have to tell the truth in court.
Bellingcat/Elliot Higgins specifically takes money from the National Endowment for Democracy, so that's pretty much all you need to know.