# Why tell a reporter something "off the record"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-tell-a-reporter-something-off-the-record/791802>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 21, 2017, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-tell-a-reporter-something-off-the-record/791802 "2017-07-21T15:15:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-tell-a-reporter-something-off-the-record/791802/41 "2017-07-26T03:16:50Z")

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For a couple of reasons: I was pretty sure some laws had been broken, serious laws, and at one point I was threatened and that pissed me off; the reporter I spoke to was the second one to contact me about the issue, so I figured my name was floating around out there related to this issue and it was possible I could end up being written about in a story if I didn’t work with a reporter. For the record, I had communicated my concerns to relevant law enforcement and all relevant files before ever talking to a reporter (perhaps that’s how they found me).

It’s been a few years, but I recall that the reporter went over the terms of what off the record meant and how he would use what I told him. I also showed him some hard copies of emails to read in my presence but took them back.

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