As for the right judgement, Jack, it seems to me that it’s a personal judgement. Because there will inevitably be someone that publishes that sort of stuff, in the end, the question of whether or not to be that person should the opportunity arise is one about how you feel. Other people, of course, are free to feel that you made the slimebag decision, but such is the price of making decisions.

For an actual comparison, I would say that journalists are in a similar situation to lawyers, or at least some journalists are in a similar situation to some lawyers. In both cases, someone will do the deed (break the story or represent the client) if you don’t and in both cases there is clearly a greater good to be served at the wider level through that fact; the question of whether one person, however, cares to be that journalist or that lawyer is one to be made by that journalist or lawyer. I guess that the professions, therefore, are well-suited to individuals who are prepared to adopt a ‘cog in the beneficial machine’ approach and act accordingly; of course, both professions will also suit amoral scumbags, too.