Samantha: too open for her own good?

More on Samantha Power (see below). Not all American journalists have decided that The Scotsman was wrong to publish. Michelle Tsai, writing for Slate, says:

Can a source take back something that was accidentally said on the record? No, in most cases, but it's ultimately a matter of opinion. Some editors may argue that since Power tried to go off record mid-sentence, it was essentially the same as if she had made the request before calling Clinton a monster.

There's also leeway given to trusted sources and to people who aren't used to speaking with the media or are under intense pressure--say, a parent whose child was just in an accident or an immigrant talking about her employment status.

A public figure like Samantha Power, who represented a presidential candidate, however, might be expected to know the rules.

The view that Power was naïve is backed up in today's Financial Times

Gideon Rachman Some people are too open for their own good Barack Obama

Rachman is clearly sympathetic to Power's plight, casting her as political neophyte. He goes on to point out the value of off-the-record briefings. "If this journalistic convention were simply abolished," he writes, "political debate would become even more cautious, simplistic and dishonest.

"Everybody would suffer. People involved in politics would not be able to test and discuss their ideas with anyone outside a closed circle of political loyalists. And journalists and the public would be even less well informed about the real thinking of politicians."

That does answer some of the commenters to my posting yesterday who appeared worried by the off-the-record convention. Incidentally, one interesting factor emerging from those comments was the split between those who were for and against The Scotsman. Given that interviewing is an everyday journalistic practice it is surprising that there is such a wide divergence of views about what is ethically right and wrong.

by , who begins his piece, . He writes: "I had expected her, as a senior adviser on foreign policy to , to be ultra-careful and to weigh every word. Not at all. She was open and amusing, willing to give long discursive answers on controversial subjects, happy to admit to doubts about her abilities to do a government job. I was charmed. But I left the lunch wondering whether she was really cut out for politics."