[dannyw]

A journalist that wilfully breaks a legally binding confidentiality agreement, is actually a terrible sign for them.

Media conglomerates will deeply worry about a journo leaking their dirty internal secrets if they morally disagree. Disney, Comcast, Fox, or Bezos don’t want them.

Sources will worry about confidentiality. If a journo confirms something is off the record, it’s off the record. No buts. This is treated very seriously: it ruins the entire publication’s reputation and ability to talk to sources.

If a naive journos tries, it’ll be killed by their editor, if not the editor-in-chief, probably under the veneer of legal and/or ethical grounds.

Of course, a journo can talk to someone else who chooses to disclose whatever, be protected, etc, and that’s how it’s done. But the oldest adage in journalism is: “don’t be the story”.

It’s probably one of the best professions, tbh, as paradoxical as it sounds.

Remember that the journalism industry, as a whole, is not the idealised dream you think it is.

[dylan604]

> If a naive journos tries, it’ll be killed by their editor, if not the editor-in-chief, probably under the veneer of legal and/or ethical grounds.

In a lot of situations, the editor needs to know the source so they can evaluate their credibility and to ensure the journo just isn't making stuff up and attributing to anonymous source. At that point, there are many examples of the editor putting stuff into the copy that the journo did not included. Just because something is released under the journo's name does not mean the journo wrote it.

[pastage]

I agree with you.. Though it took me a few read throughs before I understood you liked journalists for this job. I find it interesting that it is so hard to understand people in.

[dullcrisp]

Why are you saying it like it’s a veneer of legal or ethical grounds? Publishing something that was said off the record would be a violation of professional ethics, whether you personally agree with those ethics or not.

[dannyw]

Apologies, I was unclear.

I was referring to a journo signing up for say the training program in the article, and then divulging something that’s legally confidential in a story. That would be killed.

I just used “off the record” as an example of why in journalism, respecting agreements is critically important.