On/off-the-record rule

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Idea#154

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Making Government Operations More Open »

On/off-the-record rule

Why Is This Idea Important?: Government officials often hide behind anonymity to lie to the public about official policy and acts. This leads to a misinformed public and interferes with the democratic process. Conversely, the press should protect the identity of government officials giving information critical of the government's position, since that information can be especially helpful to the public, and since the official may face negative employment and/or legal consequences. Fundamentally it should be up to the press to promulgate this rule, but executive branch acknowledgement of the principle would help.

We propose a new guideline regarding whether a government official should talk to the press on- or off-the-record:

Any government official who gives a reporter information that supports the government's position should be considered "on-the-record," i.e. the reporter should be able to source the information to the official.

Tags: press media off-the-record attribution

Submitted by lbaskett 2 years ago