The Rationale Behind Whistleblowers And The Journalists Who Believe Them

Just over a year ago, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested a 25-year-old woman in Augusta, Georgia for allegedly leaking top secret information from the National Security Agency to the press. Last month, Reality Winner pled guilty to violating the Espionage Act. Winner was sentenced to 63 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Her prosecution is the first in the Trump administration’s crackdown on whistleblowers.

 On Second Thought host Virginia Prescott spoke with two journalists about the motivation behind whistleblowers and their rationale.

To learn more about the case, we spoke with Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Jeremy Redmon. Redmon has covered Winner’s case since she was arrested in June 2017. We also spoke with Richard Griffiths, who vetted tips from whistleblowers for 25 years at CNN. Griffiths is president of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation.