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Comment by WalterBright | Hacker News Reader

I once had a telephone interview with a journalist. I made some silly remark, followed with "don't print that".

Both the remark and the "don't print that" were printed in the article.

Generally, the journalist does not owe you to follow you instructions, just as any other person. They might do it if they want to be nice, or cooperative with you, or like you, or owe you loyalty somehow, or count on repeated cooperation in the future. So I guess the question one needs to ask oneself is - does this particular person, acting as a journalist, owes me any loyalty or has a special reason to feel they have to be nice to me? If not, expect nothing - anything you say can and will be used however they see fit, just as in any other conversation with a total stranger. Just because somebody calls themselves "journalist" doesn't make them any different.

You can't take back what you've said while on-the-record (you are on-the-record unless you have jointly agreed otherwise... not to mention clearly agree on what 'on background' or 'off-the-record' means to each of you).

Next time, seriously, read up on or take some media training before speaking with a journalist unless you are open to your words being repeated, summarized, abbreviated, etc.

And you learned a lesson in how reporting works.

Of course. Now I take questions in writing, and respond in writing. It's less work for the journalist, too, as they don't have to spend time transcribing a recording.

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