Scenario 1: "Off the Record"
You're a new reporter covering local government for a newspaper in a small town. After attending numerous council meetings, you get your first interviews with several well-placed sources about a controversial new highway bypass around the town. Local businesses are against it because it will decrease traffic to their storefronts, and residents are for it because it will reduce congestion and provide more peace and quiet in many neighborhoods. In an interview with the mayor hints that he and two members of the city council have "strong-armed" a few of the larger businesses to keep quiet regarding their opposition by offering some attractive zoning and tax incentives. Then, after he says that, he adds, "That's off the record."