on the record
For official documentation
On the record describes statements made for official documentation or public attribution.
A source speaking on the record can be quoted by name.
The phrase contrasts with off the record, where information is shared privately.
In legal contexts, on the record means part of official court proceedings: Let the record show the witness nodded.
To go on the record is to make one's position publicly known.
- transcriptVerbatim written account
- sworn testimonyOath-bound legal statement
- quoteRepeated words from another
- attributionAssigning origin or cause
- press releaseOfficial statement for media
deposition · court reporter · accountability · admissibility · press · no comment · transparency · affidavit · testimony · formality · sourcing · publication · statement · witness · interview · stenographer · news · reporter
- courtroom expressionsobjection, sustained, overruled, all rise, guilty
- journalismreporters, interview, editors, student editors, school paper
- PRpublic relations, press release, PR agency, media kit, PR campaign
- press briefingspress conference, news conference, briefing, presser, press secretary
- Book Idiomsby the book, closed book, open book, on the same page, same page
- Media Termsbreaking news, TV show, sound bite, press release, comic strip
on the recordoff the record
Not meant for reporting
confidential · deep background · unofficial · unrecorded · anonymous
on the recordoff the record
Not meant for reporting
in secret · covertly · under the table · on the quiet · clandestinely
on the recordunofficial
Not formally recognized
informal · off the books · undocumented · unacknowledged · deniable
record, recording, records, recorded, recorder, unrecorded, re-record, on record, off-the-record