the.com/whistleblower
the conscience that picks the truth over the paycheck, then braces for the fallout
means a person who exposes wrongdoing, corruption, or illegal activity within an organization, usually from the inside and often at personal risk.
from From the literal act of blowing a whistle to call a halt or raise an alarm — think of a referee stopping foul play, or a police officer signaling a crime in progress. The figurative sense of 'one who sounds the alarm on misconduct' took hold over the 20th century, with the compound 'whistleblower' becoming common in American English. A popular tale ties it specifically to bobbies' whistles, but the image draws on the whole family of alarm-whistles: sports officials, factory floors, and the law alike.
- origin
- From referees blowing whistles to halt foul play
- legal shield
- US False Claims Act dates to 1863
- bounty hunter
- Some collect millions for exposing fraud
- career cost
- Most face retaliation, lawsuits, or exile
- famous names
- Snowden, Manning, Ellsberg, the Enron accountants
edward snowden — nsa contractor who revealed mass surveillance programs in 2013
chelsea manning — us army intelligence analyst who leaked 700,000+ classified documents to wikileaks in 2010
jeffrey wigand — tobacco executive who revealed industry fraud about nicotine addiction in 1996