IMPORTANT: The legal definition of "whistleblower" [View All]

[TahitiNut]

whis·tle·blow·er (`hwi-səl-'blō-ər)
n.

An employee who brings wrongdoing by an employer or other employees to the attention of a government or law enforcement agency and who is commonly vested by statute with rights and remedies for retaliation compare qui tam action whis·tle·blow·ing (-ing)

Disclaimer: IANAL

It's very important that illusions regarding whistle-blowers and their (so-called) 'remedies' by statute be dispelled. A person who reports wrongdoing to the press is not regarded as a whistleblower! A person who reports wrongdoing internally is not regarded as a whistleblower! In order to receive 'remedies,' a real whistleblower must prove retaliation. (Try proving you were black-balled!) There are no presumptive remedies. In reality, whistleblowers are left to twist in the wind.

The press exploits this failure of the law. Whomever 'leaked' Plame's identity exploited the press's self-absorbed and socially illicit claim of privilege. Legislators, as creatures of corruptions big and small, have no interest in providing real and substantive protections for whistleblowers.

If whistleblowers had real and substantive protections, then the entire specious argument in favor of shield laws would evaporate.

The real problem we have in our nation is that we reward corruption and punish whistleblowers. Too many powerful interests rely on intimidations and coercion -- they don't want protections for whistleblowers.