We now use on, off and background automatically. But it was API that secured those rules in 1995 — one example of how the foreign correspondents’ association has quietly worked to improve journalists’ working conditions in Brussels.
The agreement, reached after talks between API representatives and the European Commission’s spokesperson’s service (SPP), set formal definitions for “on the record,” “off the record” and “background” during EU press briefings.
“I hope these clarifications will facilitate cooperation between journalists and the spokesperson’s service,” wrote Nikolaus van der Pas, then head of the Commission’s press service. In his letter to API President Rik Winkel, van der Pas noted that a copy of the agreement would henceforth be posted at the entrance of the press room for all reporters to see.
“During the meeting between representatives of API and the spokesperson’s service held today, it was agreed to clarify the rules applicable in the press room,” van der Pas wrote in June 1995.
Under the deal, comments in the press room would by default be on the record, attributable to named spokespersons. If expressly indicated, remarks could be off the record, attributed to “Commission sources,” or placed on background, to be used without attribution.
API has continually pushed for the clarifications to ensure fair, transparent working conditions for international correspondents.
Photo ©API-IPA. Courtesy of former API president Michael Stabenow.
