Between Ourselves

The truly global nature of the modern media has been on clear display this month, with comments made to a Scottish journalist leading to the resignation of a high-profile figure in the race to be the Democratic candidate in this year’s US Presidential elections.

In an interview with The Scotsman newspaper http://www.scotsman.com/latestnews/Obama-aide-quits-after-making.3857275.jp, Samantha Power, a senior aide to Barak Obama, called Hilary Clinton “a monster� – and then swiftly attempted to pull back by saying “that was off the record�

The journalist, Gerri Peev, quite understandably didn’t agree that it was, having not previously agreed that anything in the interview was off limits, and published the comment as part of his article – and within a few political heartbeats, Ms Power was on her way, resigning with an apology to both her boss and his opponent.

The concept of ‘off the record’ is well recognised in the wider world, but I would suggest it is only partially understood – and as this case shows, it is fraught with difficulties, especially in times where seemingly-small slips can be all around the world in a matter of moments.

Politicians and lobby journalists can often, for example, have mutually-beneficial relationships through which important information mysteriously finds itself into the public domain and becomes part of the news agenda when certain parties might not want it to be so.

These relationships tend to work because both parties understand the rules and (generally) adhere to them, but difficulties arise when, perhaps due to over-enthusiasm or a mistaken belief in their own infallibility, interviewees try to get conspiratorial with their inquisitors and let something out that they then realise they’re, sooner or later, going to regret.

When preparing clients for meeting the media, the question of ‘off the record’ has often been put to me, and the most practical way to answer it is to say that it simply doesn’t exist.

If there are details of a story that you would rather not be in the public domain, perhaps for reasons of commercial confidentiality, or opinions that you think you probably shouldn’t express, even if you believe they are justified, then the simplest course of action is to keep your mouth shut and stick to the facts that you do want to talk about.

The only way to keep something off the record is not to put it on it at all, a plain fact that Samantha Power must now be wishing she’d borne more carefully in mind.

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