That's what former WSJ reporter Dean Starkman wants to know after hearing that Managing Editor Paul Steiger sat on the news about Rupert Murdoch going after Dow Jones. Steiger's explanation has been that an e-mail he received from Murdoch laying out the offer was marked "personal and confidential," but Starkman isn't biting - and he makes a pretty good case.

Someone sending an e-mail that says, "I have made some big news, but this is off the record," does NOT by itself make it off the record. That goes double if the sender is a press baron, who should know better, sending it to a newspaper editor, whose first loyalty must be to readers. Off the record is an agreement between two parties, I feel; it's not a one-sided deal, and that even applies to Rupert Murdoch.

[CUT]

If Plato—the ideal editor—got that e-mail, he calls Murdoch on the phone, confirms that he sent it, expresses regret that Murdoch mistakenly believed it was "personal," assigns fifteen reporters and a helicopter to the story, beats that jugger-not CNBC and the rest of the world, sets the e-mail in type and runs it, including the "Dear Paul," and the "All best, Rupert." Listen, I'm not saying any of this is easy, or that I know what I would do.

But even putting aside the journalism, Starkman says, Steiger had gotten some valuable and time-sensitive information that was apparently making the rounds all over the world (among bankers, attorneys and perhaps DJ board members).Once that happens, the game changes, and it's no longer "personal and confidential."