Digital whistleblowing platforms in journalism: Encrypting leaks

Abstract

This book analyzes whistleblowing platforms and the adoption of encryption tools in journalism. Whistleblowing platforms are becoming an important phenomenon for journalism in this era and offer safer solutions for communicating with whistleblowers and obtaining leaks. WikiLeaks and the Snowden case have been powerful game changers for today’s journalism, showing the potentials of and needs for encryption for journalistic purposes, together with the perils of surveillance. Whistleblowing platforms are also an interesting example of journalists and hackers coming together to support investigations with new tools and practices. The book introduces this phenomenon and features a qualitative study about whistleblowing platforms and their adoption in the journalistic field.