Communicating off the record

Abstract

This article pursues three major goals. The first is a critical one. It confronts the widespread bias that off-the-record communication briefings are inferior – including professionally and ethically – to other techniques of communication, especially to its counterpart of on-the-record communication. The second goal is a practical one. Discussed are cases of both failed and successful off-the-record strategies, from which basic rules – prerequisites for such interaction – are extracted. And the third goal is a theoretical one. Off-the-record is conceptualised as more indirect and, in this sense, more strategic mode of communication than its counterpart. Affinity rather than trust is the core quality of the source-media relations here. A new distinction is made between advertising and public relations. On the record, one controls the message but due to the obvious self-interest of the source – attributable or unattributable – its credibility is low. Off the record, one cannot control the message, but other and more credible influencers take ownership of it and increase its impact. On the record is advertising; off the record is public relations.