It seems to be an increasingly frequent occurance that a thread is killed by someone making accusations of a journalist using MN for research.
I've just started a thread asking opinions on something that interests me. It must be obvious from the quality of my writing that I'm no journalist but the accusation came in within a couple of posts and that will be the end of that.
Even if I was a journalist, if the thread is interesting and people are enjoying posting why do people feel the need to close it down? It's not like anything we post here is confidential.
I agree It's lazy of the journalist but I don't see where the harm is and it seems unnecessary to spoil threads just because you have a suspicion that the poster might be "researching". It feels almost spiteful, like I don't have the right to ask a question if there's a chance it might make an article.