Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Off the record with columnist Bill Rettew
Columnist Bill Rettew delves into the fine art of going ‘off the record.’ It’s not as simple as it looks.
“Can you go off the record?”
Almost every day I hear it. Somebody wants to tell me something – but they don’t want it published.
Usually, I’m about to hear something fascinating.
I like to hold secrets. And I can keep a secret. Let’s say I’m a pesky reporter, or maybe, just nosy?
Sometimes I teasingly tell our local versions of “Deep Throat” that unless they are about to tell me they visited Dallas in 1963, or they’re about to say somebody committed a felony, then I will keep my mouth shut.
I put my pen down and listen closely. You must be so careful. Anything that shouldn’t get into the paper doesn’t get written down.
They might tell me what is happening before it does and that is fun.
From time to time, politicians, or others, want to keep a secret. They know I might eventually hear the same information from somebody else, and they want to protect it from ever being reported.
No dice. If somebody else is going on the record, then my agreement is null and void. I just don’t mention where I heard it first.
I was handed a public record depicting delinquent water bills in Phoenixville, early one morning at 3 a.m., behind the Vale Rio Diner. One resident hadn’t paid their tab and owed the borough thousands of dollars.
About a dozen people later asked me who had tipped my off. The only person I gave that information to was my editor.
It was fun to hold that secret, and in turn, create a guessing game. I’ll keep that secret until my demise. It’s not really necessary, since nobody asks about it anymore.
By speaking off the record, the speaker sometimes hopes it will not become public.
A goofy editor believed it was OK to tell all in print. He said that if a source told you something off the record they want you to publish it.
I disagree. I’ve never burned anybody and learned the hard way not to not tell that editor anything in confidence. Burn one source and everybody will stop talking.
I sat behind the late, great reporter Jim Konkoly in a Sebring, Florida, newsroom.
He’d rather not hear it, and I heard him say it often.
“Don’t tell me anything you don’t want to read about,” he’d say. “I’ll publish whatever you say. Nothing is off the record.”
On occasion, a source would then go on the record, but usually they were mum, which was fine with Konkoly.
Sometimes the tidbit may be bad information. An individual might tell me something they’re speculating about, or something they heard incorrectly. We check things out and dig further.
Often it’s gossip about another politician. The goal is to taint a reporter’s opinion.
Oftentimes it’s a great yarn, other times, if
printed, it would be pure slander.
Everyone has enemies, and some don’t want those enemies to know how they really feel about them.
Everything said by a politician about another politician should be taken with a grain of salt. Most politicians want to talk, but don’t always want to read about it later.
Sometimes, sources want to trade information to find out what a reporter already knows.
Had I already heard what they just told me? Am I already going with it in a future story?
I’m sometimes able to later trade that information with others to learn more.
The more a reporter learns about a subject, the better. The more I know, the more I can relay the facts. Background information is sometimes important and I don’t think we’re cheating the readers out of information because we simply heard something interesting.
Listening is vital. Opening up a door that might be closed forever gives insight.
Knowing is better than not knowing. When a story hits the streets, everyone is privy to everything.
Once information is part of the permanent record, it becomes public knowledge. You can’t take it back. Not all news needs to be public; I have to bite my tongue at times.
Otherwise, if I refused to go off the record, or wasn’t trusted, I might miss out on a good secret.