PR 103
What you say, stays here - NOT
What you say is never off the record, no matter what is said.
Let me repeat, you are NEVER off the record. There is never any occasion to ever believe that you will be off the record.
Something I say to all the trainee's when I am media training them:
Expect that whatever you say will be on the front page of the Wall Street Journal the next day.
Even when having a lunch or dinner with a reporter, you are always on the record. Riding in the elevator and talking, you are on the record. Waiting for the taxi to pick you up, you are on the record. The reporters/editors job is to get the story and they get paid to GET the story, so whatever you say, if it helps them get a raise or keep their job or "look good", they will print it.
And just so we are clear, you are always on the record when you are at a bar, or out eating dinner with your boyfriend or girlfriend, or whatever you are doing. You never know who is sitting next to you and listening.