There will be hand wringing from the press and journalism schools, but considering the abuses in the use of anonymous sources, including this case, there is a deeper principle:
When a Source Burns You, There is No Privilege
A source can have any number of reasons to talk to a reporter, and the reporter has a moral obligation to protect his source, so long as the source does not knowingly lie to him.
It is clear that the Hatfill sources were deliberately lying. In so doing, the contract between reporter and source is broken.
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