For: Whistleblower (TV series)

A whistleblower is a person who alleges misconduct. More complex definitions may be used, but the issue is that the whistleblower usually faces reprisal. The misconduct may be classified in many ways; for example, a violation of a law, rule, regulation and/or a direct threat to public interest, such as fraud, health/safety violations, and corruption.

One famous whistleblower is Jeffrey Wigand, who exposed the Big Tobacco scandal, revealing that executives of the companies knew that cigarettes were addictive and approved the addition of carcinogenic ingredients to the cigarettes. Wigand's story was the basis for the 1999 movie The Insider. Another example is Dr. Frederic Whitehurst, who exposed irregularities at the USA's Federal Bureau of Investigation's Crime Lab. In Europe, Paul van Buitenen exposed irregularities in the European Commission.

Origins of term "whistleblower"

The term whistleblower derives from the practice of English bobbies, who would blow their whistles when they noticed the commission of a crime. The whistle would alert both law enforcement officers and the general public of danger.

Definition of a whistleblower

Most whistleblowers are internal whistleblowers, who report misconduct to a fellow employee or superior within their company. One of the most interesting questions with respect to internal whistleblowers is why and under what circumstances people will either act on the spot to stop illegal and otherwise unacceptable behavior or report it. There is some reason to believe that people are more likely to take action with respect to unacceptable behavior, within an organization, if there are complaint systems that offer not just options dictated by the organization, but a choice of options for individuals, including an option that offers near absolute confidentiality.

External whistleblowers, however, report misconduct to outside persons or entities. In these cases, depending on the information's severity and nature, whistleblowers may report the misconduct to lawyers, the media, law enforcement or watchdog agencies, or other local, state, or federal agencies.

Under most U.S. federal whistleblower statutes, in order to be considered a whistleblower, the federal employee must have reason to believe his or her employer has violated some law, rule or regulation; testify or commence a legal proceeding on the legally protected matter; or refuse to violate the law. If disclosure is specifically prohibited by law or executive order, disclosure may be considered treason.Fact: date=September 2007 However, no whistleblowers have been tried for treason in the United States, and it is not officially treasonous to report illegal conduct by government officials there.

Some try to limit the impact of whistleblowing by arguing that "role-prescribed" whistleblowers (e.g. quality control personnel or internal auditors) are not whistleblowers in the traditional sense because they are employed in order to blow whistles.Fact: date=September 2007 In cases where whistleblowing on a specified topic is protected by statute, U.S. courts have generally held that such whistleblowers are protected from retaliation. However, a closely divided U.S. Supreme Court decision, Garcetti v. Ceballos (2006). held that the First Amendment free speech guarantees for government employees do not protect disclosures made within the scope of the employees' duties.