There's nothing ethically dubious at all about what the reporter did. The NYU discussion you link to begins: > On the record, on background, not for attributi

There's nothing ethically dubious at all about what the reporter did. The NYU discussion you link to begins: > On the record, on background, not for attribution and off the record: These are prearranged agreements between a reporter and a source, which govern how specific information can be used. These deals must be agreed to beforehand, never after. A conversation doesn't become off-the-record when one party utters the magic words and continues without input from the other party.