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Chatham House Rule

By Steven | May 20, 2008

There is only one Chatham House Rule, and this is it:

When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.

Note that it allows quoting, as long as the speaker is not identified. I’m increasingly getting the feeling that when people blithely say “Chatham House rules apply”, they don’t understand this implication. Should journalists rely on it? (I confess I have).

Topics: Media ethics | Comments Off on Chatham House Rule