Richardson's Study Investigates Anonymous Whistleblowing | Communication Studies
July 26, 2022

Richardson's Study Investigates Anonymous Whistleblowing

Dr. Brian Richardson recently published his co-authored study "'Who do you think wrote it': Stakeholder tensions in a case of anonymous organizational whistleblowing," in the journal Western Journal of Communication. For this research project, Dr. Richardson collaborated with Dr. Craig Scott at the University of Texas at Austin. Their study analyzed stakeholder responses to the New York Times anonymous editorial entitled "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration" published in September 2018. Richardson and Scott noted emergent tensions as the Times, President Trump, the letter writer, and others, made sense of this novel form of whistleblowing. These tensions included focus on message vs. focus on whistleblower identity, credibility vs. protection, and good journalism vs. the public good. Dr. Richardson's article is linked here: Who Do You Think Wrote It: Stakeholder Tensions