Welcome to public affairs, you are always on the record…unless you’re not. And if you’re not you have to be 100% explicit in mutual understanding between you and the media. Read this as a war story.
In the biz, we throw a common language around to make it easy. It’s not that easy, its not so common. Here are the typical descriptors which are not universally understood or agreed on, so each time and every conversation you must talk about it and gain mutual clarity.
- On the record: Use of direct quotes attributed by name. “We do good public affairs,” said Maj. Glenn Ross, a spokesman for United Nations Space Command.
- Off the record: ONLY for the reporter’s knowledge. He or she cannot use as part of the story. This is important: They CAN attempt to confirm off the record information with other sources. After they talk to you off the record they go dancing around the Pentagon saying, “I heard this thing, is it true?”
- On Background: The reporter can use this information in the story, even in direct quotes but the names are left out. “We do good public affairs,” said a defense official. For every on background engagement, you must clarify what the attribution will be – “A senior SOF official” “Defense official” “US official” “An officer who is very familiar with the subject” and so on. In general, we should not use background attribution but, in my opinion, it is acceptable when working with SOF.
One more rarely used but good to have in your kit – Deep Background. Again, you have to confirm this with the reporter but usually, it means that they can use the information in the story but cannot attribute it: The United Nations Space Command does good public affairs. Usually stated as fact but with nothing attributing the fact.
Different media agencies have different editorial guidelines which allow them to attribute certain things in certain ways. Never assume you have an understanding with the journalist. Always talk this through.
Regardless of the agreed on attribution, never ever tell a journalist something you shouldn’t. It’s usually easy to figure out who is talking and why don’t have or give your boss a false sense of security by messing around with attribution.
What do we use at school? SAPP? Yeah, never violate SAPP. Talking to a journalist on behalf of your organization is a privilege that we should hold dear. “Take it seriously,” said a public affairs officer with deep knowledge of the subject who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he gave himself the authorization to speak on the subject.
Now go and do likewise.
Courtesy Photo USAID, Historical Archive
