The most famous whistleblowers in world’s history

What is a “whistleblower”? It is a person with inside knowledge of illegal or immoral activities about another person or organization that informs the public about it. Whistleblowers are very important not only for the press (although they are the ones who probably directly benefit from their activity) but for the entire population of a city, country, perhaps the entire world in some cases. Thus, many countries – including Nigeria – have rules to protect them from any harm as a result of their revelations. It is the nature of whistleblowers, in turn, to be controversial figures, whose actions are often disapproved by many (while praised by others).

Today, the whistleblower to get the most attention is the yet-unnamed person from the White House who leaked the news about US President Donald Trump’s “perfect” phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. His leaks started a major investigation into the matter that may even lead to the impeachment of Donald Trump, the first US president to suffer this fate since Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998.

Needless to say, the world’s best-known whistleblowers are American. That, in case, their identity is ever revealed.

FRANK SERPICO

If the name sounds familiar, don’t be surprised: Sidney Lumet made a movie about Frank Serpico, with Al Pacino playing the title character, that received several Oscar nominations.

Serpico went down in history as the first police officer to report on the systemic corruption plaguing the New York Police Department, involving hosts of officers and amounting to millions of dollars (in 1971), which led to profound changes in the way the police force in New York operates. He retired from the police the next year and left the United States to “recover” – today, he lives in Italy. To this day, he is an activist against police brutality, oppression, and injustice.

JEFFREY WIGAND

Here’s a whistleblower that doesn’t come from the state apparatus but his revelations were very important nonetheless: Jeffrey Wigand, the former head of research at the Brown & Williamson tobacco company in the US. While there, he exposed the company’s practice of adding cancer-causing and addicting components to the products sold, such as ammonia and coumarin. Of course, the company tried to discredit him in retaliation.
His act was also immortalized on film – in Michael Mann’s “The Insider” he is played by Russell Crowe. The movie received four Oscar-nominations in 2000.

EDWARD SNOWDEN

No list of famous whistleblowers would be complete without Edward Snowden. Snowden is seen as a traitor by some and a hero by others. What he did was, indeed, illegal – but the things he revealed are certainly important enough to justify this act.

Having a background in secure analysis, Snowden was hired as a subcontractor by the US’ National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013. While there, he became disillusioned by the programs in which he was involved – mostly global surveillance programs by telecommunication companies and various three-letter American agencies. In the spring of 2013, Snowden got fed up, left his job in Hawaii, flew to Hong Kong, and a few weeks later, he revealed a series of classified documents to the press. As you might expect, a massive scandal broke out as a result.

As of this October, Snowden has been granted permanent residency in Russia. If he ever steps onto American soil, he will be arrested and charged for espionage, leaking private documents, and breaching his non-disclosure agreements.