Dana Gold in the Washington Post: “When a whistleblower revealed the Trump administration’s decision to overturn 25 security clearance denials, it was the latest in a long and storied history of insiders exposing significant abuses of public trust. Whistles were blown on U.S. involvement in Vietnam, the Watergate coverup, Enron’s financial fraud, the National Security Agency’s mass surveillance of domestic electronic communications and, during the Trump administration, the corruption of former Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt , Cambridge Analytica’s theft of Facebook users’ data to develop targeted political ads, and harm to children posed by the “zero tolerance” immigration policy. Despite the essential role whistleblowers play in illuminating the truth and protecting the public interest, several myths persist about them, some pernicious.
MYTH NO. 1 Whistleblowers are employees who report problems externally….
MYTH NO. 2 Whistleblowers are either disloyal or heroes….
MYTH NO. 3 ‘Leaker’ is another term for ‘whistleblower.’…
MYTH NO. 4 Remaining anonymous is the best strategy for whistleblowing….
MYTH NO. 5 Julian Assange is a whistleblower….(More)”.
