"Off the Record"

Interviewing subjects, this phrase comes up a lot, and it puts a journalist in a weird spot. While I will always write in the best interest of my subjects, nothing is ever, truly, "off the record". Even though I won't print information that they don't want made public, that information is still in my mind, and it affects my impression of them — and, inevitably, how I'll write about them.

Subjects must understand this, so it always surprises me that they still tell me things with this...