Whistleblowing Now and Then

How has COVID-19 impacted whistleblowing? Anna Myers interviews Elizabeth Gardiner, the Chief Executive of UK charity Protect who have been advising whistleblowers and working with employers to achieve speak up best practice for over 25 years.

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Listen now to the Whistleblowing Now and Then trailer with an introduction from Anna Myers.

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Welcome to a special series of the Whistleblowing Now and Then podcast, called:
The Public Interest and National Security Whistleblowing: Looking Back, Thinking Forward.
This 3-part series is a collaboration between Whistleblowing International Network and Kaeten Mistry, Associate Professor of History at the University of East Anglia, and co-author of the book Whistleblowing Nation: The History of National Security Disclosures and Cult of State Secrecy.The podcasts will consider how secrecy and liberty, and security and openness became competing concepts within democratic societies. We’ll examine these questions within and across national and regional boundaries, looking at Europe, North America, and South America. We’ll delve into issues relating to the United States, UK, Spain, France, Argentina, and Chile, among others.Today’s episode is entitled, “Secrets: A Very British Affair.” We speak to Martin Bright, Editor-at-Large at Index on Censorship, and Maurice Frankel, Director at Campaign for Freedom of Information, about public interest whistleblowing, government transparency, and state secrecy in the United Kingdom.
Additional Reading:

In addition to the podcast series, we share resources supporting those working on issues relating to whistleblowing, the public interest, and strengthening civil society organisations.
Below are some resources related to Episode 1.
Briefing on the National Security Bill - Protect
This briefing (2022) outlines the concerns of Protect, the UK’s whistleblowing organisation and legal advice centre, about new offences in the new National Security Bill that may criminalise whistleblowing where it involves disclosures to foreign regulators and journalists.
Introducing a public interest disclosure defence - Matrix and Mishcon de Reya LLP
This briefing paper by lawyers from Matrix and Mishcon de Reya, sets out the basis for the introduction of a public interest disclosure defence for breaches of the Official Secrets Acts (“OSAs”) or any replacement Espionage Act.
When We Speak (2022)
'When We Speak', directed by Tas Brooker, follows 3 whistleblowers: Katherine Gunn, Rose McGowan, and Helen Evans. By cutting between these stories, Brooker highlights their common threads, abuses of power, and exploited vulnerabilities. Crises of conscience, painful examinations of where one’s loyalties lie. We hear the motivation behind the decision to blow the whistle, and we see its dramatic fallout. The film offers a human perspective, on what can often be quite an abstract discussion. You can listen back to the Whistleblowing Now and Then episode with Director Tas Brooker here.
Official Secrets (2019)
Official Secrets is a film based on the case of whistleblower Katharine Gun who worked as a linguist at the UK’s government communication headquarters (GCHQ). In 2003, she intercepted an email from the US National Security Agency - an email asking GCHQ to assist the US in their efforts to legitimise a war on Iraq. She made a copy of the memo – given anonymously to a journalist at the Observer – as she believed revealing the proposed bugging and blackmail tactics

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How has COVID-19 impacted whistleblowing? Vigjilenca Abazi interviews Marcin Waszak, Senior Specialist at the Stefan Batory Foundation. The mission of the Stefan Batory Foundation is to build an open, democratic society in Poland and in Central and Eastern Europe.

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Welcome to a special series of the Whistleblowing Now and Then podcast, called:
The Public Interest and National Security Whistleblowing: Looking Back, Thinking Forward.
This 3-part series is a collaboration between Whistleblowing International Network and Kaeten Mistry, Associate Professor of History at the University of East Anglia, and co-author of the book Whistleblowing Nation: The History of National Security Disclosures and Cult of State Secrecy.This week’s episode looks at Europe and Latin America. Events in the UK and the US often dominate the agenda when it comes to secrecy and whistleblowing, but the debates and traditions outside the Anglosphere are a crucial part of the discussion. Today we explore these different secrecy cultures and the indigenous roots of concepts and civil society action. And we grapple with the role of historical memory and the legacy of authoritarian regimes.
To unpack this, we sit down with two leading experts on whistleblowing in Europe and Latin America. Bruno Galizzi, co-founder of the European Whistleblowing Institute, and Jean-Philippe Foegle, a jurist who was instrumental in drafting and passing the new French whistleblower law, which was adopted in March of 2022.
Additional Reading:
Le Monde – Lanceurs d'alerte, histoire d'un concept

A podcast by the prominent french newspaper Le Monde about the history of whistleblowers in the French context, and how the term “lanceur d'alerte” was coined.

Conseil d'Etat – Les droit d'alerte : signaler, traiter, protéger

A landmark report by the French council of state on whistleblowers, which inspired the 2016 “Sapin 2” law and contributed to the legitimization of whistleblowers in France.

Lanceur d'alerte :entretien avec Francis Chateauraynaud

An interview with Francis Chateauraynaud, the sociologist who coined the notion of 'lanceur d'alerte' in the 90's.

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