It's not at all like that. TMZ would be loosely classified as investigative journalism.
Your source would be the guy at the resort who took the photos. I agree. Who cares if you sleep with that guy to get the photos, in a sense.
Russini is an access journalist. She's a middleman between her employer and sources that have a vested interest in releasing information anonymously.
"It's just sports" doesn't matter at all. She's getting paid a **** ton of money to do it, and her sources have a **** ton of money to lose if she betrays their confidence. That's all that matters.