I have a real love-hate relationship with off the record conversations. In this business they are essential, because even if you cannot report their contents, they can be crucial to your understanding of a product, a company, even a market.
It frustrates me that I cannot say what I know, but it’s nothing like as frustrating as finding a manufacturer so desperate to ensure you know nothing its people simply choose to lie instead. Barefaced lies, lies not only that I know they’re telling, but they know that I know they’re telling. They tell them all the same because, ultimately, they don’t care. To me that is the worst kind of public relations but, I guess, that is a matter for them.
But some companies take a different approach. If a journalist has been around this business for a while – call it 35 years – and has an unbroken reputation for never once betraying a confidence, you – a car manufacturer – might take the view that this would be a pretty unlikely moment to choose to break the habit of half a lifetime. You might even find it suits your cause for such a person to be aware of certain forthcoming plans, so they’re able to put things in their proper context.
