What, then is a source?

Judy went to jail to protect Scooter, who was not providing information to her for any story she was planning to write.

Bob gets his johnson caught in the zipper, after holding out for two years, because he wanted to protect a source, even though that person mentioned the key fact as merely "gossip," and, again, there is no sign that there was any actual story in the offing.

So is a source simply anyone in government who tells you anything under any circumstances? Does not the revelation in question need to be material to the reporter's work as a reporter? What kind of flimsy principle are these scam artists pretending to rely upon?