Whistleblowers Blowing Down the House of Cards

     

            Whistleblowers are people in the government who speak against others or share with the public what’s happening behind closed doors. There is one whistleblower in particular that coined the name “Deep Throat” for their scandalous information that brought down Nixon's term as president that eventually led to his resignation. “Deep Throat” was the name of an anonymous whistleblower that gave a reporter inside information on the Watergate scandal. 

This man’s real name was revealed by the reporters once he had passed. The man was William Mark Felt, a former FBI deputy director who was feeding information about Nixon to the press, exposing Nixon’s knowledge of the scandal. However, some speculate that Felt was making some of the information up as Nixon stood in the way of his promotion to Director of the FBI. In this case and many others, reporters and journalists need to be careful about using whistleblowers and anonymous sources. 

When someone doesn’t feel the pressure of attaching what they say to their reputation, they may take advantage of their freedom to say whatever they’d like without consequence. Whistleblowers may try to use their position to bring others down or help themselves rise above their rank. It is a very gray area that many reporters have fallen victim to. Some have printed what the whistleblowers have told them and their reputations are ruined when the information is found to be inaccurate. 

However, on the other hand, a lot of information received about the government and what’s going on behind closed doors is given because of the anonymity. Reporters can get inside information and uncover major issues or corruption because of these sources. It is important to build a trustworthy relationship with your sources because if they don’t trust the journalist to keep their identity hidden, they won’t reveal any information, in fear that they could lose their job or that it would put a target on their backs. Whistleblowers and journalists have a relationship that benefits the both of them as long as both parties uphold the trust and understanding of their agreement. The presentation on whistleblowers in class was really interesting because i’ve always seen whistleblowers as a negative term but it was fascinating to learn how in some cases they can be really helpful in giving information.  

https://www.history.com/news/watergate-deep-throat-fbi-informant-nixon

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/William_Mark_Felt