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Legislation

Legal efforts to protect journalists, whistleblowers, and/or the right to know.

Also see our posts about the Espionage Act

In the U.S., the Espionage Act of 1917 is the leading law used against journalists, whistleblowers, and other truthtellers exposing crimes, corruption, and wrongdoing in the public interest. The United Kingdom’s Official Secrets Act, meanwhile, has been used to prosecute whistleblowers in the UK, but these cases have been rarer, and authorities have at times declined to present evidence when clear public interest considerations are at stake. 

Courage supports robust legal protections for journalists, including their right to gather news and to publish it, free from surveillance, censure, and censors; for whistleblowers, as well as other journalistic sources who expose governmental or corporate wrongdoing; and for the public’s right to know about corruption, illegality, waste, fraud, and abuse.