DC Mayor, reporter in Twitter fight

Read the story in the link. "Something big" was NOT going on here. The reporter readily admitted he had no idea what the hell they were talking about. But it was obvious it wasn't what he thought it would be. If the mayor had said something like "We ought to fire that damn fire chief, he's a real SOB" then that would be worth fighting over. But over Tumbler or someone prepping for an interview about social media? Is that really worth a public pissing match?
I can see staying on the line after it's clear you've been invited to the wrong call, especially if no one has checked to see who's listening. I can see staying until the call is over in case something juicy comes up. But tweeting about mundane stuff in a conversation you aren't understanding? Sorry, I'm seeing why you would do that.

 

What the reporter does with the information and whether it's newsworthy is an entirely different question from whether he is ethically compromised. Maybe it's boring and mundane stuff, but he isn't going to know that until the call is complete. The point is he was invited and did nothing to hide his presence or ambush what is supposed to be a competent, professional political staff. And you are saying he is supposed to hang up the phone voluntarily because they might not want him there.

 

This is stupid. There is fallout for this type stuff. The equation is simple:

Scoop > Fallout ----> report on it

Scoop < Fallout ----> just listen and save for background

Why would anyone risk their credibility to tweet secretly obtained notes on an innocuous call. Woodward and Bernstein this is not.