A brief livestream segment by TJ Walker explaining what "off the record" means when speaking to reporters: it should be an advance agreement that the reporter will not use or attribute your comments, but it is not foolproof because reporters or editors may still publish the information. He contrasts this with "not for attribution," where ideas may be used but not attributed by name, and gives an anecdote about a Japanese diplomat at a U.N. event to illustrate incorrect usage.
Chapters
What does off the record mean when talking to a reporter? There are some who claim that, oh, there's no such thing as off the record. Never speak off the record. That's a little too simplistic. There are times when it is appropriate to speak off the record. Now, off the record should mean when you're talking to the reporter, that they cannot use anything you're saying in a story. They can't tell other people, and they're not going to mention you by name or put the contents in without mentioning your name. It's as if the conversation never happened. And in order to secure an agreement with a reporter, you need to ask in advance, can we go off the record? And you need to get a verbal assurance from the reporter. They need to say, you can't blurt out, oh, our CEO is resigning tomorrow. Oh, by the way, that's off the record. That's not how it works. According to the rules of journalism and ethics, that reporter is more than able to ethically, legally print that. Your CEO is resigning today. So you have to get permission in advance. You really need to have some relationship with the reporter and know the reporter. There are times when it's appropriate, but you have to be careful. There's always the danger that the reporter messes up or is just unethical and stabs you in the back and prints the story, or that the reporter's publisher or editor somehow gets the notes and puts it in against the reporter's wishes. So it's not a hundred percent safe, but there may be times when it is necessary. So that's what off the record means. You have to have an agreement in advance. I'll never forget, I was moderating an event for the United nations in Vienna a few years back, and a Japanese diplomat stood up about to give a speech and just announced at the beginning of his speech, all of my comments today are off the record. He will continue with his speech. That's not how you do it. Fortunately for him, there were no reporters in the room, so it didn't matter. But that is not how you do it. You must ask the reporters because some reporters will tell you our policy isn't to do any interviews or any conversations off the record. You have to respect that. Now, there is something related to off the record, but it's a little different. Called not for attribution. That means the reporter can. Can use your ideas, can quote you, but can't quote you by name. There are times when you want a little distance from a particular idea. You want the idea out there, but you don't want your fingerprints on it. Again, you have to be careful. Ideally, you trust the reporter and you get them to verbally agree in advance that you're now speaking on a not for attribution basis. Those are the terms. That's how it's played.
