Can someone provide an argument why we owe any
special responsibility
to our subjects rather than our readers, except that of avoiding
wanton damage to private individuals through recklessness or malice?
If there is any uncertainty in the balance, there will be more than
one reader, so the interests of the readers will always predominate.
While I agree with what you're saying, that point is fundamentally
flawed. The harm to the subject is often far greater than the gain to
an individual reader. There are sufficiently more readers that the net
result is still positive, but were there only two readers, that
wouldn't be the case.