SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) are a powerful threat to freedom of speech and a free press – affecting whistleblowers and journalists alike. They’re essentially a form of reputation management – used by the powerful and the rich to silence their critics or anyone exposing suspected wrongdoing. This guest blog from the the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, outlines steps you can take if you are targeted by a SLAPP.
As the dust settles on a dramatic election night, thoughts now turn to what a Labour Government will do. With early indications of a planned Employment Bill, and proposals to abolish the qualifying period for unfair dismissal rights and end exploitative zero-hours contracts, it’s clear this government is looking at far reaching reform.
No business is immune from ESG risks, if only because of consumer consciousness, staff pressure, regulators’ and investors’ expectations. How an organisation treats its people, how it impacts and influences its communities and its environment are questions that can’t be ignored anymore: businesses are being held accountable for their social and environmental footprints.
Pop megastar Taylor Swift is currently taking Europe by storm with her hotly anticipated ERAs tour. While her ever-faithful fans, known as “Swifties”, are there for the music and spectacle – as strange as it sounds – is there anything the pop princess can teach us about whistleblowing?
To mark World Whistleblowers Day, 23rd June, we turned our social media channels into a whistleblowing alphabet – starting with A for Anti-Slapp and ending with Z for Gen Z. The language surrounding whistleblowing can be complex. Legal jargon, abbreviations, and acronyms are an intrinsic part of the world of whistleblowing and we wanted to break some of this down in accessible and digestible ways.
As momentum grows ahead of the General Election we’ve done the hard work – so you don’t have to – to pick out the major parties’ key policies and commitments relating to whistleblowing. While tax, the NHS, and immigration may have dominated the mainstream coverage, at Protect we have a laser-focus on what the parties are saying about whistleblowing and the promises they’re making.
With political parties thrown into campaigning mode with the calling of a general election any outstanding Government announcements, policy decisions and most importantly, legislation going through Parliament, have been put on hold – many permanently. This blog provides a rundown of the whistleblowing law changes and policy decisions that have been delayed, cancelled or have survived the calling of the general election.
A controversial documentary exposé, a staff member sharing secretly recorded footage, a witch hunt for the source of a leak, mis-directed disciplinary action and mis-identified whistleblowers. BBC Casualty’s Breaking Point storyline had it all, and Protect was there hand-in-hand with the script writers through the production process making sure their plots and ideas were realistic, while maintaining the power of drama.
The Infected Blood Inquiry report has laid bare how thousands of people died unnecessarily through receiving infected blood that was supposed to save their lives, and how both the NHS and the Government frustrated justice for decades.
Josie decided to go to the media after a junior civil servant, Raphael Marshall, reached out to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee with evidence of Foreign Office failings. Feeling “humbled” that a junior colleague had been brave enough to speak out, Josie gave an anonymous interview and leaked emails to the BBC to corroborate what he had said. Like so many other whistleblowers, she paid a heavy price for speaking out
