Politico Sets Media Twitter Ablaze Over Jennifer Rubin’s ‘OFF THE RECORD’ [Or Not] Email

Natalie KorachSep 17th, 2021, 2:02 pm
 

Politico is causing quite the stir after publishing Washington Post columnist, Jennifer Rubin’s email that was marked “OFF THE RECORD,” which was ignored because there was no mutual agreement in advance of the email.

The story was published to Politico’s West Wing Playbook, claiming that Rubin “has distinguished herself as the Biden administration’s favorite columnist” over the last eight months.

The piece concludes with the email from Rubin, bashing “utterly predictable” Politico for their “hysterical, clickbait style of coverage.”

Above the email a note was added saying, “Rubin responded in an email with the subject line ‘OFF THE RECORD.’ Since we never agreed to conduct such an off-the-record conversation, we are publishing it below in full.”

This move by Politico is technically not a journalism ethics violation, however it is widely understood across the industry that journalists  honor off-the-record requests from others in the field, without having mutually agreed ahead of time, unless there is significant news value within the content.

This move by Politico has sparked a massive reaction from media twitter, with many outraged at the blindsided nature of the publication.

The New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman added fuel to the fire by defending Politico by claiming that Rubin should know better than to assume that she alone can dictate what remains off the record. A flurry of reactionary tweets from Haberman prompted Rubin to respond. You can see the two digitally spar on Twitter below:

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