In the whirlwind media storm that is 2017, it might be easy to forget that many of the faces seen on CNN or Fox News, the writers behind the words written in national newspapers and online news websites, and the voices on the radio reading the day’s news are all people very similar to those taking in their words.

It is not a problem that is exclusive to big names like Anderson Cooper or Diane Sawyer. In small towns, the reporters for the local paper or TV station get the same treatment. Not only are they recognized, they are vilified. Not by everyone, and not all the time, but it is enough that they notice. We notice, too.

Perhaps it is the fact that journalists are curious, and some would say nosy. That is true. We do like to ask questions to find out not only what is happening, but also why. Maybe it is the fact that, in some cases, we have reported stories that may not portray some people in the best light. Perhaps it is a scandal affecting someone’s place of work or their favorite representative in government. Perhaps we work at a paper that published an opinion piece with which someone disagrees.

Whatever it is, journalists are often publicly controversial, and therein lies the problem. We are public about how controversial we are. When we are investigating a story, it is against the code of ethics we follow to unnecessarily go undercover or hide our motives.

The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics states that a professional journalist should “avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information unless traditional, open methods will not yield information vital to the public.”

So, in almost all cases, a journalist is going to make it clear that they are asking questions about a topic with the intention to report it. If we have not, then chances are very good that we are not reporting it, and our conversations are just that, conversations.

These conversations are not an attempt to mine information for an exposé, and if anyone else were to ask these questions, no suspicion would arise. Sometimes, especially if we know you well, or are involved in the topic we are asking about, we could not even report on it if we wanted to. Conflicts of interest are taken seriously, especially in the modern media landscape where everyone has a corporation to answer to.

At the end of the day, we are not always journalists. Sometimes, we are just your neighbor.