I do these things more because they can be interesting experiences than because I intend to do some super important reporting, but generally I think
group deep background experiences are more edifying than fully on the record ones, and much less prone to abuse by the political actors than anonymous "leaks" precisely because there are a bunch of people in the room. More problematic are the single source to single reporter leaks which are clearly orchestrated but in which anonymity either provides cover for no good reason or conveys - wrongly - that the anonymous source is doing something brave by speaking to reporters when in fact they're just doing what they are told.
