Sorry for the double post, I just saw this response. I was just pointing out the general, broad stroke principles of journalism ethics. "off the record" and "on background" and stuff like that are supposed to be ways for a journalist to get information and are not meant for publication. The incentive from the GM could be a plethora of reasons. To get rumours circulating within the league. e.g. GM 1 says GM 2 wants to trade some superstar, the reporter would then go to GM 2 to try to get more information. GM 1 might have made up the info, but now that the reporter is snooping around and spreading the word GM 1 has a better idea of whether GM 2 is open to trade without GM 1 showing his cards. Another incentive would be to help out the reporter, because of a strong working relationship or owed favours. Another incentive would be to let other GMs know whos available for trade without explicitly telling them, so that they have a stronger hand when negotiating. There's really a bunch of reasons. But also refer to my post above.
