Whistleblowing as Employee’s Freedom of Speech. Günther Wallraff’s authorship as an illustrative case

Abstract

In this paper, we use Günther Wallraff’s authorship as an illustrative case in order to discuss whistleblowing understood as employees’ freedom of speech. We define the phenomenon according to significant democratic values; the public, fallible search for a deeper truth. When it comes to the sources, our point of departure is based on several of the most significant books published by Wallraff during a period from the end of the 1960-ties to the end of the 1980-ties. We trace some of the personal motivation behind his whistleblowing-project in Marxism and focus that he applies the undercover methods of journalism on the profession of journalists themselves. We argue that the Wallraff-case deals with three important issues; 1) investigative journalism linked to the discussion of the legitimacy of lying, 2) freedom of speech as an active choice of publically disclosing unethical behavior and different types of repression in organizations, and 3) Wallraff’s whistle-blowing in organizations as related to analogues modern types of freedom of speech. In the end, we use different social theories to explain why the type of whistleblowing Wallraff is famous for was necessary.