The globalization of whistleblowing
RIS ID
101936
Link to publisher version (URL)
Additional Publication Information
ISBN: 9781938757099
Abstract
In the late 1970s, I collected evidence that several environmental scientists and teachers had come under attack, for example being censored, denied tenure or dismissed. In those days, environmentalism was considered quite radical. My assessment was that these researchers and teachers were seen as threatening to the status quo. I called the phenomenon of attacking dissidents "suppression of dissent."[1] Not long before this, the first important writings about whistle-blowing appeared in the US.[2] A typical whistleblower is an employee who speaks up in the public interest, typically about fraud, abuse of process, or hazards to the public. Whistle-blowers frequently suffer reprisals, including petty harassment, ostracism, reprimands, assignment to onerous or to trivial duties, referral to psychiatrists, compulsory transfers, demotion, dismissal, and blacklisting. Bosses are usually responsible for reprisals, but co-workers sometimes join in, due either to fear of being targeted themselves or to a wish to ingratiate themselves with management.
Publication Details
Martin, B. (2015). The globalization of whistleblowing. In D. Broudy, J. Klaehn & J. Winter (Eds.), News from Somewhere: A Reader in Communication & Challenges to Globalizaiton (pp. 231-239). Eugene, Oregon: Wayzgoose Press. http://www.bmartin.cc/pubs/15Broudy.html