The public debate on whistleblowing needs to be changed. There is a persistent contradiction in how whistleblowers are perceived. On the one hand, whistleblowing is a vital way in which corruption comes to light. Yet, society does little to support the real-life struggles of the many whistleblowers who find themselves without a source of income and with little prospect of sourcing further work in their chosen career. If this situation does not change, fewer and fewer whistleblowers might come forward.

For this project, we gathered empirical evidence in order to reappraise how organizations and society see and value whistleblowers, and how society might better support them. We present data from an eighteen-month study carried out between 2016 and 2018 that involved interviews with fifty- eight whistleblowers and seventeen experts, along with quantitative data from a survey of ninety-two whistleblowers.