Bellingcat is considered an American government op because it’s funded by the National Endowment for Democracy
Part of its funding is from the NED. It’s sus, but without knowing how much of their funding comes from the NED I hesitate to call it more than that.
For what it’s worth, Bellingcat claims 35% of its money is from workshops it holds, describes other non-NED funding sources, and it describes its NED money as a grant. The NED claims it issues more than 1,600 grants per year that average $50,000 each.
The NED is obviously an op, but it’s less plausible to claim that any news outlet that receives any money from the NED is also a full-on op, and it’s still less plausible to claim that any journalist who receives any income from such a news outlet is a full-on fed.
Yeah, I agree that it’s doubtful that every employee of a NED-funded outlet is necessarily a literal undercover CIA officer. We don’t know the exact extent of just outright full collaboration or US government micromanagement within some of these NED-funded organizations. Maybe more of a case here of the US government just cultivating outlets and their employees as at least generally reliable assets for advancing American government interests (Perhaps they were already at least partially ideologically-aligned, share some similar key goals, support current US foreign policy, or just like what NATO has to offer. Hell, maybe the US just sees them as “useful idiots”.) and financially supporting them accordingly via NED funding to promote them after recognizing their value. So, yeah, maybe not necessarily always 100% full-on ops or full-on feds.
