Where internal reporting works is when you have a rather large organization and it's some mid-level person in the wrong. Some Multi-Billion-Dollar corporation

Where internal reporting works is when you have a rather large organization and it's some mid-level person in the wrong. Some Multi-Billion-Dollar corporation for example, and some mid-level VP doing something worth reporting. Often they'll have an official part of their legal team that's isolated from any repercussions of the mid-level VP that can deal with them and clean up the situation quietly, which is good for the company and good for the whistleblower, and bad for the mid-level VP.