As Washington became polarized and politics was cast as a battle between virtue and evil, David remained a journalist trusted by both sides.
So the lesson of the story isn't that journalists should trust their gut, the way Abe Rosenthal did.
Journalists need trust to function.
Even those with suspicious attitudes to journalists may trust those, whose work they judge reliable and convincing.
Journalists were trusted by only 24% of people.
He chose the most responsible way possible: coming to media outlets and journalists he trusted and asking that they be reported on responsibly.
They included some journalists I trusted, a Mindanao expert or two and faculty members of the Department of Anthropology at UP, where in particular I consulted Arnold Azurin.
The access that a doctor or healthcare professional has to a community is unlike that available to a journalist; the trust and conversations are different," she wrote on her blog about a trip she made in 2009.
The suppression of free speech and the suborning of journalists are trusted means to demonstrate and wield political power in India, and there is little reason to hope that might soon change.
What happened in this case, if Staines is telling the truth rather than throwing up a smokescreen to protect his source, is that Alastair Campbell passed his draft statement in confidence to a journalist he trusted to get feedback.
