Thinking of Contacting a Journalist? 6 Tips Before You Go Public.
You’ve tried everything else. If you’re like most whistleblowers who are considering reporting wrongdoing to the media, you’ve already reported your concerns to your supervisor at work1, possibly other managers, too. You’ve probably gone to your supervisor, then a higher-level manager, then HR, then possibly an auditor or compliance officer and haven’t seen results.2 And though you’re nervous about the cost of going public, you’re more worried about the cost to others if you don’t.3
Before you contact a reporter:
Do some basic research into what a particular news outlet or journalist covers to make sure your situation is a good fit for their audience and investigative abilities.
Consider if you’re willing to go on the record. This means the journalist can use your full name in a potential story. FYI, most news outlets will allow sexual abuse victims to remain anonymous. They vary on allowing anonymity for other sources and victims of other types of abuses, but many require you to be named. Even if you decide to go on the record, you can, at any point in the interview, go “off the record” for particularly sensitive details by simply stating this.
Gather any documentation you have to corroborate your account. Texts, emails, minutes or recordings of meetings, attempts to report the matter to your boss, and even your journal entries from the period of the abuse can add credibility to your testimony.
Find others who are also willing to go on the record with you with their own accounts. Most investigative journalists want several people to come forward in order to consider it for an investigation. Invite and encourage, but don’t guilt or manipulate, others to join you.
Figure out if you should contact just one journalist or multiple. To put the time and resources into a full journalistic investigation, many journalists will ask that you speak to them exclusively. However, if you’re filing a lawsuit, a police report, or know of an arrest coming, this is in the category of “breaking news.” It might make sense to contact several journalists with breaking news unless you’ve already worked with a particular journalist who you trust and has already invested some time reporting well on the situation.
Gather a support system or advocate team around you. Media investigations are often game changers, in that they bring much-needed transparency to cover-ups and can finally bring awareness and change where internal reporting failed. They also tend to draw out other victims in a way that makes them feel less alone. But some of the public attention on whistleblowers can be negative, unfair, and stressful. For example, ask a friend to read the media coverage of your situation and inform you of pertinent developments so that you don’t have to keep reading the situation over and over, possibly retraumatizing you.
(Disclaimer: This is my own personal opinion, intended as general information, and not meant to replace legal or psychological advice for your specific situation.)
Whistleblowers are most likely to report misconduct at work to their supervisor, according to this study: ECI Research Staff, 2020 Global Business Ethics Survey. Available here.
Whistleblowers usually make at least two or three attempts to report misconduct to their managers before attempting to report to an external entity, according to this study: Wim Vandekerckhove, Arron Phillips, “Whistleblowing as a Protracted Process: A Study of UK Whistleblower Journeys,” Journal of Business Ethics, 2017.
A survey found that 78 percent of whistleblowers would report externally if there’s “potential harm to people.” The only higher motivator was if it’s a serious crime, at 83 percent of whistleblowers going external for this reason, according to Ethics Resource Center, Inside the Mind of a Whistleblower: A Supplemental Report of the 2011 National Business Ethics Surveys, USA, 2012.