''We Are Bellingcat: Global Crime, Online Sleuths, and the Bold Future of News'' is a 2021 autobiographical account of open source investigative journalism by

Eliot Higgins Eliot Ward Higgins (born January 1979), who previously wrote under the pseudonym Brown Moses, is a British citizen journalist and former blogger, known for using open sources and social media for investigations. He is the founder of Bellingcat, ...

. The book focusses on the career of Higgins, his role in founding

Bellingcat Bellingcat (stylised as bellngcat) is a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group that specialises in fact-checking and open-source intelligence (OSINT). It was founded by British journalist and former blogger Eliot Higgins in July 2014 ...

and the organisation's use of social media data to investigate of criminal acts, frequently undertaken by the Russian state forces.

Publication

''We Are Bellingcat'' was published in 2021 by

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

Synopsis

The book covers Higgins' life as a college drop out, his blogging, and his hobby of using

Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

to ascertain the precise location of violent events. It documents his online activity analysing the

First Libyan Civil War The First Libyan Civil War was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were seeking to oust his government. It erupted with the Libya ...

while working his "dead end job". It describes the creation of Bellingcat in 2014, and Higgins' work investigating the downing of

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down by Russian forces on 17 July 2014, while flying over eastern Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew were killed. Cont ...

, which used images gathered from social media to demonstrate that the plane was shot down using a Russian

Buk missile system The Buk (russian: link=no, "Бук"; "beech" (tree), ) is a family of self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile systems developed by the Soviet Union and its successor state, the Russian Federation, and designed to counter cruise mis ...

. It also documents investigations into Bashar al-Assad's use of chemical weapons in Syria, neo-Nazi activity in Charlottesville, and Russia's involvement in the poisonings of Sergei and Yulia Skripal and of

Alexei Navalny Alexei Anatolievich Navalny ( rus, links=no, Алексей Анатольевич Навальный, , ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ nɐˈvalʲnɨj; born 4 June 1976) is a Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia, Russian opposition ...

. The book documents Higgins' role on the Technology Advisory Board of the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals ...

Critical reception

Amy Zegart Amy Zegart (born 1967) is an American academic. She is the Morris Arnold and Nona Jean Cox Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. She is also a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies (FSI), professor of political ...

writing in ''Foreign Policy'' describes it as a "memoir, manifesto, and police procedural: CSI for the international relations set." Zegart also notes Higgins' tendency to focus on the upside of open source citizen journalism without comparable reflection on the associated potential risks.

Anne Harris Anne Harris may refer to: *Anne Harris (journalist) Anne Harris (born 25 August 1947) is the former editor of the '' Sunday Independent''. Her daughter Constance Harris writes for the newspaper as a fashion writer. She is the former wife of Eogha ...

, writing in ''The Irish Times'' describes the book as a demanding read, and "thrilling". Peter Neville-Hadley, writing in the ''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...

'' praised the book for its openness, letting readers judge things for themselves. Both ''The Times'' and ''

The Week ''The Week'' is a weekly news magazine with editions in the United Kingdom and United States. The British publication was founded in 1995 and the American edition in 2001. An Australian edition was published from 2008 to 2012. A children's edi ...

'' identified ''We Are Bellingcat'' as their book of the week, in February 2021. ''The Week'' described it as "deeply impressive". Jonathan Green, writing in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described it as "powerful" and an "exhortatory call to arms".

References

{{reflist British autobiographies 2021 non-fiction books Books about journalism Books about international relations Books about war British non-fiction books Bloomsbury Publishing books

Publication

Synopsis

Critical reception

See also

References