The argument around law is similar – the law doesn’t make a distinction between journalists and citizens, so we don’t need to make one for it (it’s notable that the Reynolds Defence looks at process, not someone’s business card). And as for ethics – those are not instilled with a job title (ethical codes haven’t stopped all the practices explored in the Leveson inquiry).

Too many of these demands stink of egotism, a desire to stand apart from other people – and that’s what bothers me. If a journalist is seeking to be something other than a ‘citizen’, then I think that makes for bad journalism, an aspiration to power rather than to demanding answers from power to tough questions, a right every citizen should have.