A lot of professionals keep secrets for a living, not just reporters, and most professions have developed legal or ethical codes that place limits on that obligation of secrecy by, as the legal profession puts it, recognizing “the overriding value of life and physical integrity.” https://twitter.com/erikwemple/status/1303796940048564226

A lawyer who knows his client accidentally spilled toxic waste into the town’s water supply can tell the authorities if its necessary to save lives, even if that info would otherwise be privileged. It’s going to cost him a little business, to be sure...

But at least, in theoretical discussion somewhere, the profession has worked out the rules for doing the right thing. It’s only journalism afaik where the *ethics discussion* revolves around “hey, he’s making money here.”