Why The N&O declined to attend Gov. McCrory's background briefing

by John Drescher, Executive Editor, News and Observer, October 5, 2013.

Gov. Pat McCrory and members of his Cabinet and executive team held a background briefing this week for top editors to talk about “issues facing North Carolina,” according to the invitation. Kim Genardo, McCrory’s communications director, said information from the session could be reported but could not be attributed to the governor, a Cabinet secretary or an executive team leader.

This type of “background” briefing is common in Washington. That’s why you see so many stories about the federal government that quote anonymous “senior administration officials.”

I declined the invitation. I’m sure Gov. McCrory’s intentions were good, but these types of background sessions are an insidious practice. They allow public officials to promote their interests and criticize others without having to take responsibility for their comments.

Also, if McCrory had said something newsworthy, I would have been blocked from attributing the comments to him. I didn’t want to be in that position.

We avoid using anonymous sources. In our staff stories, you see them occasionally. We use them on competitive stories when we are confident of our sources and there is no other way to get the information on the record.

When public officials visit The News & Observer to talk with reporters and editors, we insist those conversations be on the record. I wrote about this in 2010 when Timothy Geithner, then the U.S. Treasury secretary, wanted to visit and talk only for background. We insisted the meeting be on the record. Geithner obliged.

We don’t want to emulate Washington. We will keep pushing for sources to speak on the record.