[Sir Gawain]

If the memos weren't fake, why did the reporter destroy the originals?

Does it say that? The quote says he returned the originals to the source.

[hipaatwo]

Yahoo: "Smith told AP he protected the identity of the source he had obtained the documents from by typing copies of them on plain paper and destroying the originals."

MSNBC: "On the advice of the Telegraph’s lawyers, the paper had a secretary retype the documents verbatim on separate paper—then returned the originals to his source.

Yahoo Link: http://tinyurl.com/9pj87
MSNBC Link: http://tinyurl.com/dw25g (Page 3)

[Peach]

From the story:

Smith told AP he protected the identity of the source he had obtained the documents from by typing copies of them on plain paper and destroying the originals.