[XorNot]

To what, encourage whistleblowers to not come forward because "everyone knows they'll get killed"?

The only benefit of turning it into gossip is to dissuade other whistleblowers, without the inconvenience of actually having to kill anyone.

[im3w1l]

It's a lot harder to get away with the murder if the case will receive heavy scrutiny. Publicly requesting scrutiny may dissuade someone from trying.

[hilux]

How exactly is post-death gossip going to dissuade other whistleblowers?

[krisoft]

I’m not sure what you are asking. There is someone who knows some ugly secret and is considering if they want to publicly release it. If they can recall many dead whistleblowers who were rumoured to have been assasinatend over that kind of action then they are more likely to stay silent. Because they don’t want to die the same way.

And the key here is that the future would be whistleblowers hear about it. That is where the gossip is important.

In fact it doesn’t even have to be a real assasination. Just the rumour that it might have been is able to dissuade others.

Which part of this is unclear to you? Or which part are you asking about?

[DennisP]

The only way to prevent that is to not report whistleblower deaths at all. It's not like people can't privately have their own suspicions, and if I were a potential whistleblower, I'd want to know that any apparent accidents or suicides get very thoroughly investigated due to public outcry.

[krisoft]

The question was “How exactly is post-death gossip going to dissuade other whistleblowers?”

I answered that. Understanding and describing how it works doesn’t mean that the alternative of keeping silent about suspected deaths is prefered.

[DennisP]

My point is, gossip about possible murder doesn't dissuade them more than the bare fact of an apparent accident or suicide.

[hilux]

You seem to be arguing for complete secrecy [about deaths].

Nowhere in history has a culture of secrecy resulted in a more open and honest government.

[krisoft]

I’m not arguing against or for anything. You asked how something is happening and i explained to you. What conclusions we draw from it is a different matter.

[flawn]

and if nobody talks about it, no whiszleblower will reveal anything as it seems insignificant. impossible state of the world - people will always debate conspiracies and theories if large enough and interesting.