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Jay Willis
@jaywillis.net

Dying at the right-wing activists that (1) held a call with Todd Blanche in which Blanche made a lot of anti-abortion promises, (2) said "uh this is off the record" like doing so would magically ward off journalists, and then (3) UPLOADED IT TO THEIR YOUTUBE CHANNEL www.politico.com/news/2026/08...

Jay Willis
@jaywillis.net

"Off the record" is an agreement between a journalist and a source, and the agreement must take place BEFORE the disclosure of "off the record" information. You can't unilaterally assert it, and it isn't retroactive. You also definitely can't assert it once you, uh, post it on YouTube.

myskhin.bsky.social@myskhin.bsky.social

So what is the journalistic rule of thumb here? If a journalist was on the call would he even have any responsibility to take this "off record" since it sounds like anyone might have been able to join the call.

BigHeadMode
@bigheadmo.de

Power analysis is good here, though often ignored. Random small-time sources may not be familiar with journalistic quirks. In those cases IMO it's on the journalist to explain them. But government officials should know the game and if not, joke's on them.

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