Whistleblowing Act

Whistleblowing is a highly controversial and widely discussed topic in today's society due to many high profile cases including the circumstances surrounding the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion and what was documented in the movie The Insider about the tobacco industry. Ethically, the decision for someone to whistleblow is a tremendous one. The person needs to weigh many factors and take many things into consideration before making that step. This paper will use the movie The Insider, Ethical Theory and Business and material collected from the internet to (1) discuss definitions and conditions of whistleblowing; what motivates whistleblowers; ethical and other considerations including risks and typical results of whistleblowing cases.

Definitions and conditions of whistleblowing

"A whistleblower is an individual that believes that his or her organization is engaged in or willingly permits unethical, unlawful or otherwise reprehensible activities. Whistleblowers bring attention to the objectionable activity and attempt to effect change. Whistleblowers generally report these actions internally and may ultimately resort to reporting these activities to external authorities or interested parties."

(http:cosign.scu. edu505set01003WhistleblowerProfile.htm)

In the essay "Whistleblowing and Professional Responsibility" published in Ethical Theory and Business (1995), Bok spells out the conditions needed for whistleblowing. They are: "it singles out specific persons or groups as responsible for threats to the public interest, the accusation of the whislteblower, moreover concerns a present or an