She's not wrong. Talking to journalists is vanity, and that's how many reporters justify obtaining peoples trust and then betraying it. Personally, I thought q

She's not wrong. Talking to journalists is vanity, and that's how many reporters justify obtaining peoples trust and then betraying it. Personally, I thought quite a few journalists I met were actuated by a kind of sadism, where to bait and smite people they envied was something they really enjoyed. Comparing this trap setting mentality to a perversion is not as far a leap as it might seem. The lunatics who threaten and harass them are no better, but the whole thing is a seedy enterprise. Whitman is right to caution staff about them. Anyone who has had their reputation harmed by having a quote taken out of context and used to drive a writers narrative can attest to this. Journalism as a story form relies on conflict, and preying on vanity to draw people into conflict is literally the game.