A democratic society cannot long survive if whistle-blowers are criminally punished for revealing what those in power don't want the public to know - especially if it's unethical, illegal or unconstitutional behavior by top officials. Reporters need to be able to protect these sources, regardless of whether the sources are motivated by policy disputes or nagging consciences. This is doubly important with an administration as dedicated as this one is to extreme secrecy

Ok, ok, let's look at what a "whistle Blower" is. The Federal law specifies a set of circumstances. There are mechanisms, expecially within the intelligence community for going outside normal channels to inform on what one perceives as unethical or criminal conduct. This does NOT include breaking the law yourself by going to the press or media.
There are several divisions of Inspector General offices in whom one may confide, and who are waiting to "make a career" by blowing the lid off corruption within the ranks.
Only a self aggrandizing individual would bypass all the in place systems and go to a destructive press corp to release damaging information. We will see what this lates "whistle blower" provides. He may in fact have relevaqnt information. My hunch is that he simply has his own ax to grind. He may be a patriot. Both may be true. In any case, if he went to the media FIRST, he is NOT primarily interested in fixing problems, but in publicity and damage. Only time will tell.