Politicians who deliberately leak confidential information to the press get away with it most of the time, a study has revealed.
Researchers at the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands spoke to journalists and editors at 50 Dutch daily newspapers and found that not one believed using leaked information posed a moral problem.
According to the survey, leaked information was generally published two-thirds of the time and almost all those responsible, who tend to be government employees, were able to remain anonymous.
The journalists questioned admitted they found the information leaked was often "unbalanced, incomplete and lacking in detail" but said they were only likely to check its accuracy in an average of 34 per cent of cases.
The editors said leaked information was generally either "particularly topical or politically sensitive".
And the journalists said that government employees who leak information tended to seek contact with the press themselves, not the other way around. The local news pages tended to receive classified information once or twice a month, a figure that has remained steady over the past decade.
The survey suggested that municipal and provincial councillors were more likely to leak official documents and memos while more prominent government staff tended to pass on information verbally.
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