2019 Volume 7 Issue 3 Pages 17-34
Whistleblowers sometimes receive dismissal or other disadvantageous treatment from business operators after revealing wrongdoing to the media. In Japan, the Whistleblower Protection Act was enacted to protect whistleblowers in 2004. Whistleblowers who disclose information to the media can be protected in Item 3 of Article 3. However, they are subject to the most stringent requirements, which have continued to be criticized since the bill was drafted. This matter was discussed in the Expert Examination Committee which was called up in 2018 to move toward legal reform.
This paper examines how to relax requirements of whistleblowers protected in Item 3 of Article 3 through an interview survey of whistleblowers who disclosed information to the media. First, Section 2 sorts out the issues of requirements in Item 3 of Article 3, which were discussed in the 159th session of the Diet and the Expert Examination Committee. Next, Section 3 summarizes previous research and court judgments about the ethical or legal justification of whistleblowing. After that, Section 4 researches actual examples of whistleblowing to the media from an interview survey of 7 whistleblowers and Section 5 suggests how to relax requirements to protect whistleblowers. Finally, this research concludes that reporting of whistleblowing in the news advances the public interest and whistleblowing to the media is necessary to guarantee the freedom of expression of whistleblowers and the right to know. If requirements are relaxed, Item 3 of Article 3 in the Whistleblower Protection Act would contribute to this advance.
