Blog Post 8; EOTO 3; What are Whistleblowers?

 What are Whistleblowers?

    What is whistleblowing and what effect does it have on journalism? Why do we see people accused or punished for whistleblowing and are there ways to whistleblow safely?

    To explain it simply, a whistleblower is someone, usually someone who works inside a company or agency, who reports and exposes the company’s or agency’s wrongdoing. These range from waste, fraud, abuse, corruption, public health, or safety dangers. These whistleblowers typically report the wrongdoings to someone who can rectify the situation, or make it known to the public. Whistleblowers are important because they are individuals who are brave enough to disclose information about the wrongdoing that would have otherwise gone unnoticed and unfixed. 

    As for whistleblowers and journalism, they actually serve an important purpose. In general, whistleblowers can provide information that can easily be published in journalistic stories and investigations which spark reporting work. In that sense, the relationship between journalists and whistleblowers is a complementary one. Whistleblowers need journalists to gain publicity for their information and journalists need whistleblowers to provide them with useful bits to fill in missing parts of the story. Whistleblowers have a strong effect on the process of news-making yet

the research about whistleblowing in journalism as a news source practice is oddly limited. On a large scale, journalism studies seem to have devoted little attention to whistleblowing and its impact on the news. While whistleblowing is helpful when filling in gaps in a story, journalists tend to only cite their information from “official” sources. These usually include political leaders, law institutions, courts, ministers, corporations, or other largely recognized companies. 

    While whistleblowing is helpful and informative, it comes with its own set of consequences. Due to this, there are dozens of laws in place in the United States at the local, state, and federal levels that have their own unique set of definitions and procedures to protect whistleblowers. 

    Under most laws, whistleblowing is defined as “disclosing information that you reasonably believe is evidence of a violation of any law, rule, or regulation, or gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.” As stated previously, whistleblowers are protected by a network of laws, but the level of protection depends on what information is disclosed, to whom, and how. This is why it is not always in the best interest of the whistleblower to work within the press. This is why it is also important for journalists to know how whistleblowing works because if journalists work with insiders, it will produce stronger stories and treat sources more fairly if they know how whistleblowing works. 

For journalists and whistleblowers alike, the National Whistleblower Center offers these tips to understand whistleblowing and how to approach it:

1. Know the Laws: As stated previously, the laws for whistleblowing differ at the local, state, and federal levels so it is important to familiarize yourself with those protection laws.

2. Protect Anonymity: Anonymity is an essential element of a successful whistleblower case and can offer protection. Especially in the digital age, revealing someone’s identity is an easy mistake so take extra precautions when communicating or meeting with whistleblowers. Confidentiality can be breached in numerous ways, so be aware of the risks as well. 

3. 
   Understand what is a stake for the whistleblower: Whistleblowers often experience retaliation for doing the right things. Understand the implications of public whistleblowing and the risks along with it. Careers are ruined, reputations turned bad, and harassment can even occur, so be as sympathetic and cautious as possible. It also may be wise to get in contact with their lawyer for extra safety. 

4. Whistleblowers have their own set of rules: While there are protection acts for whistleblowers, those policies don’t always apply to those who work in an intelligence committee since they work in a classified field with sensitive or secret information. They rarely can go up to the chain of command to an agency inspector to whistleblow, that’s usually as far as it can go. 

5. Leaking vs. Whistleblowing: Leaking is an unauthorized release of sensitive material, that can be criminally charged by federal agencies. Leaking goes drastically beyond whistleblowing, so again, know the laws. 

    Whistleblowers have an important role even beyond journalism. They also perform a valuable service to the Department of Justice when they report evidence of wrongdoing. All employees of the Department of Justice are protected from retaliation for making such disclosure through the Department of Labor, which also benefits from whistleblowers. 

    Under the Department of Labor’s whistleblower protection laws, an employer cannot retaliate against you for exercising your rights. Retaliation can have an overall impact on employee morale, and the Department of Labor seeks to prevent that from happening. Retaliation from companies has the grand possibility of ruining that persons' life, so it is crucial that these protection laws are in place to protect whistleblowers for doing the right thing.

    

    Whistleblowers are valuable in many aspects of our day-to-day lives and are the ones who are brave enough to point out when something is not right. Even though spreading the truth can have its consequences, whistleblowers do it for the benefit of bettering or exposing the corruption within an organization to shed light on the issue and push for a change.