The fallout is an insight into a key tenet of journalism - sourcing stories. Reporters have to be able to trust their sources and it's standard journalistic practice not to reveal who they are.

In this case, that trust broke down.

Oh please. This shit happens all the fucking time. Only reason they're owning up to it this time is that they made very specific and false claims about an individual with the resources to sue them for defamation if they didn't apologize.