Background briefings versus on the record comment
Launch library · evergreen read
A background briefing gives a journalist genuine context and understanding without providing anything that can be directly attributed or quoted back to the source involved, while an on the record comment can be published exactly as given, with the speaker's own name clearly attached to every word. Understanding this distinction, and using each deliberately and appropriately, is genuinely central to working effectively with journalists over time.
Background briefings are particularly useful for explaining genuinely complex situations honestly, helping a journalist understand the full picture before they decide how to frame a story properly, without committing an organisation to a specific public position before it is actually ready to take one in front of a wider audience.
Confusion between the two can damage a relationship quite quickly if a journalist believes something was offered strictly as background and later finds it attributed anyway, or if an organisation mistakenly assumes a background conversation gave it more control over the eventual published story than it actually did in reality.