No comment is a phrase used as a response to
journalistic inquiries which the respondent does not wish to answer. Public figures may decline to comment on issues they are questioned or have nothing to say about the issue at the time.
''No comment'' indicates that the speaker does not choose to say anything on the subject, and it is automatically invalidated if the speaker then comments or answers questions. It is not a request for the material to be considered ''
off the record'' or otherwise kept confidential. If the speaker wishes to talk about the subject, but does not wish to be named as a source, he must obtain the journalist's explicit agreement in advance that the response is not to be used for attribution.
In many English-speaking countries such as the U.K. and the U.S., this phrase is also a
stock phrase, especially in popular culture, where a suspect or person being interviewed in a
criminal investigation wishes to exercise their
right to silence
The right to silence is a legal principle which guarantees any individual the right to refuse to answer questions from law enforcement officers or court officials. It is a legal right recognized, explicitly or by convention, in many of the worl ...
.
Etymology
The first recorded usage as a stock answer to questions was made in 1950 by
Charles Ross, President
Harry Truman's
White House press secretary. According to
William Safire
William Lewis Safire (; Safir; December 17, 1929 – September 27, 2009Safire, William (1986). ''Take My Word for It: More on Language.'' Times Books. . p. 185.) was an American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter. He w ...
,
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
attributed the phrase to American diplomat
Sumner Welles
Benjamin Sumner Welles (October 14, 1892September 24, 1961) was an American government official and diplomat in the Foreign Service. He was a major foreign policy adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and served as Under Secretary of State ...
.
Criticism
Some
public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
professionals have argued against the use of ''no comment'', stating that one of the goals of working with the press is to resolve issues before they become hot topics. Offering no comment allows the press to fill in the blanks, diverts the focus of the publicity, and sacrifices an opportunity to communicate key messages.
[ Laermer, R. (2004). ''Full Frontal PR''. New York: Bloomberg Press.]
See also
*
Glomar response
References
Journalism terminology
Public relations terminology
English-language idioms
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