Short answer: If they "stole" the information (by, say, bribing an insider), they it's probably illegal. If they found it out by being clever (by, say, buying

Short answer: If they "stole" the information (by, say, bribing an insider), they it's probably illegal. If they found it out by being clever (by, say, buying some satellite images and counting cars in parkings lots), then it's probably legal. If you need to know how a court is likely to draw the line, talk to a lawyer. :) But in general, the fact that a journalist is involved doesn't really change anything. In general, you can trade on whatever information you may have; the exception is if you have some duty not to trade on it.