INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS BLOG Off-the-record interviews are tricky for journalists. They are often the best way of getting somebody important to speak frankly. But then what are you meant to do with the information? The usual tactic is to sprinkle your articles with quotes from “senior officials”. The difficulty is that, depending on the contacts and scruples of the journalist involved, the phrase “senior official” can cover anyone from the US Secretary of State, to the doorman at 10 Downing Street.
So it is with some hesitation that I am about to offer you gobbets from a long interview that I have just done with a “senior official” dealing with the Middle East.
