‘Off-the-record’ speech raises concerns (Meghan O'Sullivan)

Meghan O'Sullivan, former Bushie/Paul Bremer lackey/Coalition Provisional Authority toady/Deputy National Security Advisor/made-over White House Hottie (http://wonkette.com/politics/meghan-o.sullivan), cancelled a speech at Indiana University this week after the student newspaper refused to comply with her stipulation that the event was "off the record" for the press. The event was open to the public & was held at a public university for Pete's sake!

The student Bushies who organized this thing argue that the newspaper knew a week in advance of the "off the record" request and that it was unprofessional of them to wait until the event was about to start to say they weren't going to honor the request. I agree with the person quoted in this article that "off the record" is an agreement that a journalist can CHOOSE to make with a source and that if someone is giving a speech that's open to the public at a public university, they have no right to request that it be off the record for reporters. I think the reporter would have been within their rights to just ignore the request and write the story any way they saw fit. I don't think it was even necessary to tell the organizers they didn't intend to honor the request.

Isn't this typical Bushie crap?

O'Sullivan was going to talk about recent advances in Iraq. Damn sorry I missed that. :sarcasm:

What was she planning to spill in a public venue that couldn't be reported in print? Nothing.

If you read this whole article, you'll see a quote at the end of the piece from a student who organized the event. In my experience, when someone says "this isn't about freedom of the press" it usually is.


Here's a link and a snip:

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‘Off-the-record’ speech raises concerns
http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=48417&comview=1

Following a dispute Tuesday evening between members of the Student Alliance for National Security and the Indiana Daily Student regarding a request for a public speech by former government official Meghan O’Sullivan to be off-the-record, First Amendment experts and lawyers nationwide called O’Sullivan’s request questionable. But the event’s organizers said this was an issue of professionalism, not media rights.

In addition, the IDS found similar procedures to be commonplace at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, where O’Sullivan serves as a senior fellow.

O’Sullivan, President Bush’s former deputy national security advisor, had been contracted by the student organization to speak Tuesday at the Indiana Memorial Union. O’Sullivan had planned to lead a discussion with students and members of the public about recent gains made in the Iraq war. However, both O’Sullivan and event organizers said the event had to be off-the-record for members of the press.

After objections by both IDS reporters and editors, and the assertion that O’Sullivan had become ill, organizers canceled the event. But fallout Wednesday largely yielded more questions than answers – namely those regarding the press’ access to reporting public events.

“This is a public university, public dollars. You cannot be bound by the agreement that those organizations made,” said Roy Peter Clark, a senior scholar at the Poynter Institute, a facility devoted to journalism and its ethics. “(Journalists) can attend that event. And you can write about that event ethically and responsibly.”

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What do you think?

One more question I have - how many universities have student groups like the Student Alliance for National Security?

not the person giving a public speech.
a newspaper or station can decide, on an individual basis, to ask something "off the record", but an interviewee can request but not demand that status.
for a publicly-held talk, there can be no such arrangement.

Yet the organizers and at least one faculty member here argue that this is a common practice, especially in D.C.

They also argue that high-level officials won't come to campus if we don't honor such requests. That's fine by me. I could live without hearing from the likes of O'Sullivan.

http://sansiu.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/sans-press-release-meghan-osullivan.pdf

"Despite assertions in 2006 that Iraq faced civil war and an unbeatable insurgency, the 2007 "surge" of U.S. troops in Iraq has led to a significant drop in violence across the country. As the Bush Administration draws to a close, can these gains be sustained? Will Iraq eventually be a stable, moderate democracy?"

(SNIP)

"The Student Alliance for National Security (SANS) is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting awareness of national security issues, engaging students in discussion on security-related topics, and presenting student opinions on security issues to policymakers. SANS was founded at Indiana University in 2006."

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Nonpartisan, my ass. Does that first paragraph sound nonpartisan to you?

Bunch of little neo-cons.