Even if we generously interpret the "whole lot of reporters", the implication here is that they were left with no reporters to work with. That's absurd. There are many, many reporters, and even many credible reporters. It would not have been difficult to find non-implicated reporters that could deliver this with an impact.

You're acting as if there is a small group of reporters who, if compromised, make it impossible for Wikileaks to be responsible.