TRANSLATED..

For a few years, at the latest since 2010, when the platform Wikileaks published secret US military documents, the term whistleblower has been on everyone's lips. Julian Assange, Chelsea (Bradley) Manning or Edward Snowden have been names that most have heard of since then.
The Panama Papers, which uncovered cases of tax evasion, tax avoidance and money laundering in 2016, are also typical whistleblower cases. However, such stories are always a tightrope walk.

They uncovered incredible conspiracies
While the whistleblowers are celebrated as heroes on the one hand, they see the other side as criminals and traitors who have lost their craft. The exposure of grievances is in most cases something positive. How else could you take action against corruption, violations of the law, criminal offenses, bribery or mismanagement, be it by states, companies or private individuals, if there were no whistleblowers.

Without the former CIA agent Edward Snowden, for example, nobody would have known about the worldwide surveillance activities of the US secret service or the National Security Agency (NSA) - nor about their cooperation with other services. For example, the German foreign secret service passed on data from telephone or internet connections of German citizens - any personal data contained therein had been removed beforehand, the service assured the media ...

A high price to pay for the truth
However, it should have come as no small surprise to many citizens that such extensive monitoring of the telephone and Internet was taking place in the country - and also by a "friendly" service. For the state and its authorities, of course, it was anything but pleasant to suddenly find information about their "secret" activities in public. It is not for nothing that Edward Snowden has found himself in exile in Moscow since 2013.

Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning also had to pay a high price for their uncovering work. Likewise, in the eighties, the nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu, who provided information about the Israeli nuclear research program to the London “Sunday Times” and thus revealed it. He was kidnapped by the Mossad and sentenced to prison in Israel. Although he has been “at large” again since 2004, he is neither allowed to leave the country nor to use the Internet or a mobile phone.

Top topics & interesting articles in the current issue
As a guide: real heroes are a source of inspiration
Austria and the world: Cyber ​​attacks: For the WEF they are now the latest threat scenario
Weekly topic: Whistleblower phenomenon / The man behind WikiLeaks
Health: Air Pollution, Medicines & High Heat: Deadly Mix for Seniors
From home: custom license plate was no longer approved
In conversation: Successful balance of liberal politics in Linz
Mediathek: Irritant topic of child vaccination: How parents have a chance against the constant propaganda
Our people: Early retirees brought to court after demo by Nehammer police
With the exception of “Wochenblick”, there is almost no real resistance in the Austrian media landscape. In the past weeks and months, numerous letters to the editor have reached the “Wochenblick” editorial team and show that the “Wochenblick” report is on a crisis-proof course. Nevertheless, the government is exerting great economic pressure on the one hand with its measures - and on the other hand showering the media devoted to it with money in order to distort the formation of democratic opinion in their favor.

Critical media such as “Wochenblick”, on the other hand, are a thorn in the side of those in power because we see it as our mission to satisfy the public's need for information with reliable information by writing what others are hiding. Above all, we rely on the support of our readers so that we can remain competitive in this important battle for truth. WE depend on YOUR help! Recommend us to your friends, relatives and acquaintances.