this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2024
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United States | News & Politics
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I think NPR updated the headline to “Trump campaign staff had altercation with official at Arlington National Cemetery”. Besides “on the record” is completely made up. Anything you say to an official or journalist is “on the record” if they’re recording it. The Hollywood trope is just made up stuff like “you have to tell me if you’re a cop”.
There is now a report on the record. "On the record", meaning that the appropriate authorities have to review it.
Uhg. No. Well, yes in the most literal sense: if it is recorded there is a record of it, BUT if you ask a journalist to keep something off the record and they agree, then whatever you then disclose is usually not published of otherwise made public. See: journalists like having good relationships with their sources and if the journalist gets a reputation for saying something is off the record and then writing about it, people stop talking to them. OTH, if a journalist happens to see something heinous, you probably won't be able to retroactively get them to let it slide -- but in that case the journalist isn't betraying a trust.
TLDR; You can't force a journalist keep something off the record, but if you ask in advance, they might agree.