Journalists as friends

I agree with much of David’s article [It's not stenography... and it's not always nice], but I fundamentally disagree that a good journalist will always be willing to betray a friend or even betray a spouse. Why would a source trust a journalist who can’t even be trusted by the people closest to them? Journalists don’t live by a different ethical code to everybody else: you don’t become a good journalist by being a bad person. ■