Odd "off the record" question

[schiezainc]

So, I'm at our state's indoor track championships today and am covering four teams (boys and girls from school A, boys and girls from school B).
In my efforts to get quotes from all the coaches i need to at the meet (I'm at a weekly so time isn't a factor), I go to "School 1" and talk to the boys coaches and players first and afterwards am looking for the girls coach from this same school when i am told by the above-mentioned boys coach that this particular individual suffered a heart attack last week and wasn't at the meet.
Sure, big story. In fact, i'm planning on tailoring my gamer around it. Problem is, I then proceed to talk to the interim coach and ask her how the team was affected by it and how the coach is doing. She tells me that the coach is fine and should be back next week, but then adds that it is "off the record".
So, i'm confused.
I've always been told that "off the record" is only a courtesy, but should it apply in this case? I mean, the interim girls coach told me "OTR" that the actual coach is fine, but I have to mention the guy had a heart attack and, unless i was completely idiotic, i should mention that he's fine right? What do you guys think?

 

[Moderator1]

Off the record is made CLEAR before conversation. Not after. You are fine to use.

 

[Breakyoself]

maybe if you mention that he had a heart attack, but was recovering well.

 

[schiezainc]

Yeah, that sounds good. I just don't want to put something like (and i'm being sarcastic) "Coach Ronald McDonald had a heart attack. His condition was listed as off the record".

 

[21]

Verify it independently, if you can. Why would it be secret that the coach is doing well? Something seems off there.

 

[John]

Verify it independently, if you can. Why would it be secret that the coach is doing well? Something seems off there.

Indeed, I wouldn't run anything until I talked to the coach, or at least the AD.

 

[MU_was_not_so_hard]

21 is spot on. Get it confirmed independently (from said heart attack victim, if possible). If not, call the other coach back and tell that person how it is a newsworthy, heart-warming story to see if you can get that "off the record" comment eliminated altogether.
If nothing else, you should be able to talk to a player about it and what the team went through while their coach was laid up.

 

[Write-brained]

Verify it independently, if you can. Why would it be secret that the coach is doing well? Something seems off there.

I'm guessing the interim coach didn't mind you using the information but didn't want want his/her name attached to it.

Scheiza: Make sure you clarify that with the source next time and explain what Moddy said about off the record.

The more knowledgable sources are about how you attribute information, the more comfortable they feel about telling you stuff be it on the record, off the record or on background.

 

[spnited]

Once you talk to the coach, write about him and the team and you can ignore anything the interim coach told you.

 

[awriter]

I'll just repeat what others posted: You need to talk to the coach or spouse/family.

 

[ADifferentOkie]

Agree with the consensus.
I know off the record is supposed to be something source asks for and receives the comfirmation of before they say anything.
Still, I'm pretty forgiving about when people like an interim high school track coach (who may have never before been interviewed) doesn't understand all the rules.
I'd do everything I could to get confirmation from the recovering coach or the A.D. and try to avoid doing anything that some could construe as burning a source who didn't know better.

 

[zebracoy]

How about last year, when a major Division I college hoops coach goes on a rant about a player not accepting his scholarship offer when the signing period began and choosing to let his recruitment play out a bit? Local media, visiting media and plenty of television cameras in the room. The SID threatened us afterward, "clarifying" what the coach meant in that it was off the record.

I don't care what he "meant." He never prefaced anything. I used it. He knows better.

...He is not Kelvin Sampson.

 

[ADifferentOkie]

How about last year, when a major Division I college hoops coach goes on a rant about a player not accepting his scholarship offer when the signing period began and choosing to let his recruitment play out a bit? Local media, visiting media and plenty of television cameras in the room. The SID threatened us afterward, "clarifying" what the coach meant in that it was off the record.

I don't care what he "meant." He never prefaced anything. I used it. He knows better.

...He is not Kelvin Sampson.

I'd have used that too. Once you're playing big-boy ball, you have no one but yourself to blame if you screw up with the media.

 

[Your Huckleberry]

Verify it independently, if you can. Why would it be secret that the coach is doing well? Something seems off there.

What's "off" there is the information is "off the record"!!!!

Seriously, I think the HIPPA laws come into play here and that's probably whey the interim coach did not want to publicly make a comment on the coach's condition. The other suggestions are right ... get it verified through another source, specifically the coach or his immediate family or physician. There's a lot of legal things going on there that could even though he is fine, some lawyer could find a way to make a buck off it either at the hospital, school or physician's expense.

 

[deskslave]

Just sounds like a deal where the interim coach wanted you to have the information, but didn't want to be the stated source. I can understand that, really. And really, from your perspective, do you want to be writing in your story, "Head coach Run Faster suffered a heart attack, according to interim coach Not-So Quick"?

This is particularly true, I should think, of the bit about the coach being fine and being back next week. May well be true, but I'd be kinda pissed off if someone said that of me after I had a heart attack. I'll decide when I'm fine, thank you very much.

 

[Birddog]

The only source for a person's medical condition is either his/her physician or the hospital's media rep. Period. Second-hand, OTR is bush-league journalism, IMHO.

 

[Write-brained]

The only source for a person's medical condition is either his/her physician or the hospital's media rep. Period. Second-hand, OTR is bush-league journalism, IMHO.

Wrong. Family of the person (and the person himself) is perfectly fine.

A kid's coach is fine, if that's the best source and the player and his family is unavailable.

AND ... if you ever work cops, sometimes cops are your only source for medical information because everyone else - EMTs, doctors - can't talk without out the patient's permission.