The Age editor Gay Alcorn defends revealing ‘whistleblower’ identity

The editor of The Age has defended the newspaper’s decision to publicly identify the ‘whistleblower’ who shared footage of a Liberal staffer performing a lewd act on a federal MP’s desk.

The Age editor Gay Alcorn.

The editor of The Age has defended the newspaper’s decision to publicly identify the “whistleblower” who shared footage of a Liberal staffer performing a lewd act on a federal MP’s desk, writing to the man who exposed the incident to tell him there was no “compelling reason” to protect his anonymity.

On Saturday, The Age published an article by chief reporter Chip Le Grand in which the identity of the self-described “whistle­blower” was revealed. Le Grand wrote that the man’s motivation for sharing the footage with media outlets was “part revenge porn and part political activism”, and he was not “a whistle­blower in the true sense of the word”.

On Tuesday, the editor of The Age, Gay Alcorn, wrote to the man (whom The Australian has chosen not to name) in response to his complaint about the story. “I understand you were unhappy with the article, but we stand by it,” she said in an email.

“The decision to publish your name was not made lightly but our policy is to name people … unless there is a compelling reason not to — that they are a confidential source, for instance, with a strong reason to remain anonymous.

“While you identify as a whistle­blower, we did not believe your circumstances met the usual definition of that term and we could not see a compelling reason to withhold your identity.”

Following publication of the story, the “whistleblower” posted on Twitter he hoped Le Grand’s “actions don’t dissuade other whistleblowers coming forward”.