"on background"

[Jonathan Lighter]

This journalistic phrase has been around for a while. Not in OED:

2012 Bob Woodward _The Price of Politics_ (N.Y.: Simon & Schuster) xiii:
Most interviews were conducted on "background," meaning the information
could be used in the book but none of the sources would be identified by
name.

I.e., "with the understanding that the source will not be identified."

JL

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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