23 June 2026
To mark World Whistleblower Day on 23 June, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the world’s largest organisation of journalists, demands stronger legislation to protect those who provide information to journalists in the public interest.
The costs of acting as a whistleblower and informing journalists of matters of public interest can be high. This is seen in a number of well-known cases, from IT Specialist Edward Snowden and the NSA surveillance disclosures in 2013, to engineer Satyendra Dubey’s revealing of rampant corruption within the Golden Quadrilateral highways network in India in 2002, to government health inspector Daniel Gouveia Teixeira’s role in Brazil’s Operation Weak Flesh/Carne Fraca in 2017, and Australian military lawyer David McBride’s involvement in the Afghan leaks in 2014. People who speak up about any perceived wrongdoing stand the risk of losing their job or they may experience retaliation, prosecution, financial and psychological strain, imprisonment or even die as a result.
Yet in order to support journalists’ investigations and hold the powerful to account, whistleblowers must be able to expose corruption, fraud, mismanagement and any other misconduct that threaten citizens’ rights, health and safety, the environment and the rule of law.
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