I too think the organ grinders should answer for this. They knew fine well what was going on, they would have signed off payments to private investigators, they must have asked how the information was obtained because there are legal implications.
There is so much pressure on reporters to bring in an exclusive, the DM is known to put two on to a story and make them compete. Many journalists want to write and tell the story but end up doing this shit through fear and the macho atmosphere in the newspaper office. They often work in a sort of competitive bubble where common decency is forgotten.