The “monster” off the record comment about Hillary
Last week, senior Barack Obama advisor Samantha Power made the following comment to The Scotsman reporter Gerri Peev about Hillary Clinton: “She is a monster, too – that is off the record – she is stooping to anything.”
The interview was for a book that Power had published but the conversation drifted into the U.S. presidential campaign and out came the “monster” as it were. Power tried to take it back with “off the record” but that was to no avail. Subsequently, the article Peev wrote focussed around this quote and the book was nowhere to be seen. The comment drew a huge backlash from the Clinton camp and not long after, Power resigned from the Obama campaign. Peev defended her reporting of the comments as “off the record” happened in the middle of the interview and not at the beginning (see above video).
The situation brings up the question of whether “off the record” should be respected by journalists. As a PR professional, I advise all my clients to never EVER consider a comment to be off the record when speaking to a journalist. There is absolutely nothing to stop a reporter from using such a comment, even if it’s at the beginning of the interview. I suppose one could put their faith in a reporter they know well but the stakes are too high to risk something like that.
It is very easy for interview subjects to think that a conversation with a journalist is like one at a party, with your neighbour or a friend. It is not. It is a business meeting where both the interviewee and the reporter have their own agendas. The interviewee has a message to get out and needs to be responsible for comments that accurately reflect his or her public position. The reporter has a news story to tell and has the right to use comments made by the interview subject. Each should stick to their respective roles while appreciating the others’ goals. Friendly as it may be, a conversation with the media can have huge consequences which need to acknowledged by all involved.
What do you think? Should “off the record” be respected by reporters? Does it ever make sense to bring it up with a reporter you know well, for example?
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Tags: Barack Obama, Gerri Peev, Hillary Clinton, off the record
joshturner[at]rogers.com
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I happen to agree that Hillary is a monster who is ready to say anything including the triple contradiction involving a statement that only she and McCain have enough experience to be commander-in-chief but mcCain has more expereince but she is more qualified than he is but if Obama were on her ticket as VP she would certify Obama a qualified.
(As Slick Willie once said “That is the biggest fairy tale I have ever heard. Give me a break!)
It is so so easy so say the wrong thing at that level and unfortunately it is just those kinds of things that end up being the tail that wags the dog.