I would suggest that part of the problem with jounalists and academics is the lack of knowledge and experience. The days when a journalist spoke several languages, had deep knowledge of history going back to Greece; lived in countries for decades ( as perhaps his family had ) , had served in combat or been say in the Foreign Office/ICS ( Toynbee ) are long gone. Examples of people with this breadth of knowledge and experience which are long gone are :- Gertrude Bell, T E Lawrence, A Toynbee, GM Trevelyan, John Glubb( RE Officer and had served in Iraq and Jordan from 1920 to 1955 ), Mark Tully( born in India, speaks several languages), Paddy Leigh Fermour, Charles Wheeler( Born in Germany to a father who worked in shipping, lived there and served in 30 Assault Unit ), Northcote Parkinson ( Historian and WW2 staff officer under Monty ).
When it comes to reporting on a riot, especially if there is gunfire, it is difficult to understand what is happening. However, a reporter who has led soldiers in street fighting can judge types of gun fire, distance and direction or know that buildings will cause noise to be altered. Wellington said one could not report on a battle. There is also the gut feeling. If one has certain sensitivity and lives in an area one can feel the change in atmosphere leading up to a disturbance. Good reporters will be picking clues; the waiter who goes from being friendly to civil to hostile over a few days.
The result is that Westerners become used in conflicts within families, between families, clans, tribes, religions, cast and and language. Conflicts can go back hunfdreds or thousands of years. When was the first conflcit recorded between India and Sri lanka? The conflicts between Croatia and Bosnia could be said to back to the divide in Roma in AD 325. The conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen goes back to when tribesmen first started raiding northwards which is how many thousands of years ?
There is also the reality of people getting into positions of authority who are utterly clueless. It would be easy to construct a conspiracy theory that Chamberlain, Baldwin and the Labour Party were in the pay of Hitler based upon decisions made from 1933 to 1940.None of these people went to Germany and actually loooked at what Hitler was doing after 1933, understood the history and analysed war production data. There was a journalist from The Time who wrote a book( Insanity Fair, I think ) in about 1938 warning about the Nazis based on his travel but he was sacked and then mocked by everyone.
There are two views of history, the c**k up and conspiracy. The conspiracy hides the c**k up. When was the last time a politician, state employee, academic, reporter, lawyer, activist, etc admit to a c**k up ?
When it comes to a riot ask these questions: when did you start living in the area, do you know people from all walks of life( criminals included), do you speak the languages, understand the divides, where were you, can you identify types distances and direction of gunfire ( difference between 5.56mm, 7.62m AK47 and 7.62mm NATO, 9mm or 0.45 side arm ), cartridge cases found, what could you see at night, who was injured and how, when and where and how do you know, are there blood patterns. but no bodies |( bodies been removed ) Have parties tried to conceal the truth , if so how? If areas were washed evidence was destroyed. The reality is that even reporters with film and sound recording from top teams do not know what is happening, how can they, unless they are a Tully reporting from the Indian sub-continent?

You mention hundreds of acts of violence against BLM. You’d kinda expect police to come out swinging billy cubs when BLM tries to burn city centres to the ground! What would the Gendarmarie do if “youths” attempted the same on the Champs Elysee?

Being fair to the guy he does admit to left wing bias in his article, so its no surprise he’s pro BLM, pro rioting etc etc. Regardless of his student type politics i think Bellingcat has overall been a force for good. Whether or not you have video or still photo evidence geo data can be very useful to corroborate or falsify a theory. You don’t have to agree with their politics to praise their methodology, though i can’t help wondering what the Bellingcat types make of the US election? Videos show official observers being thrown out of poll counts and testimony of the 47 missing USB drives in Delaware County, Penn.

Bellingcat is a propaganda service for the intelligence agencies. They don’t do intelligence work. They do propaganda. HIggins is a complete fraud who peddles lies.