There must be SOME reason that the New York Times' Judith Miller is still in the hoosegow.
The cincher for me is that I don't believe for one minute that any of the so-called 'journalists' were going to the wire for a source inside the administration.
I would not take that as a given – Judith Miller will be working as a reporter long after this President has left office, and without the ability to quote "anonymous" sources” within administrations both Republican and Democratic it would be almost impossible for anyone within government to provide anything other than "the party line", and thus almost impossible possible for reporter to write knowledgably about politics and foreign affairs
This is well understood on both sides of the microphones - it’s why we have limited “immunity” for reporters in the US, and don’t have something the UK’s “Official Secrets Act.