Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugh
Damien, you are doing a "Guardian" - it is not about paying an officer for information, it is about suborning a Police Officer to pass confidential information; this is a criminal offence - no money has to change hands...
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I know it's a criminal offense. That is one of the reasons why it's important for Journalists to protect their sources.
The difference here is that it was clearly in the public interest to reveal this information and to report on it. What is to stop the police or government to use this tact to stop other releases of information they don't like? After all pretty much every police or government leak is passing on confidential information. It's a serious problem if it's exposing people's private information, it's a different thing when it's passing on information about corruption or other ill-doing by those in power.