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I'd actually love to hear from someone that knows the law on this.

I think journalists are constantly publishing information obtained through illegal means and it is legal. http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/08/is_it_illegal_to_do...

In many Western countries there are laws which specifically exempt journalists, and only journalists, from some types of laws about releasing improperly-obtained information.

It does not generalize to other professions/pursuits; it would be like saying "well, the person who reads the parking meters is allowed to issue parking tickets, so anyone else should be too" -- the person issuing the tickets has specific-to-them legal permission to do so.

The problem is that in recent times with online media the definition of journalist has blurred. There are Youtube channels, Instagram accounts and blogs with more monthly views than most local / regional newspapers, are they covered by journalist protection laws?

yeah, absolutely; but the guy in the linked article claims to be a lawyer and says it's ok.

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