|
A non-denial denial is a statement that, at first hearing, seems a direct, clearcut and unambiguous denial of some alleged accusation, but on carefully parsing turns out not to be a denial at all, and is thus not explicitly untruthful if the allegation is in fact correct. It is a case in which words that are literally true are used to convey a false impression; analysis of whether or when such behavior constitutes lying is a long-standing issue in ethics. London's newspaper ''The Sunday Times'' has defined it as "an on-the-record statement, usually made by a politician, repudiating a journalist's story, but in such a way as to leave open the possibility that it is actually true".〔Harris, Robert (1996), "Denials can't hide undeniable truth." ''The Sunday Times'' of London, September 15, 1996.〕 ==Origin and history of the phrase== ''The Washington Post'' editor Ben Bradlee "is credited with coining the phrase ''non-denial denial'' to characterize the evasive Oval Office answers to questions", according to a 1991 retrospective on Bradlee's career in ''The Times''.〔"Editor Bradlee bows out to a living obituary; Benjamin Bradlee". The Times, June 22, 1991〕 The phrase was popularized during the Watergate scandal by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in their 1974 book ''All the President's Men'', in reference to evasive statements and equivocal denials by then-Attorney General John N. Mitchell. William Goldman's screenplay for the 1976 film adaptation put the phrase into the mouth of Ben Bradlee and used it to dramatic purpose. The Bradlee character looks at some White House releases and comments "All non-denial denials. We're dirty, guys, and they doubt we were ever virgins, but they don't say the story is inaccurate." Later, Bradlee worries about the accuracy of a story and asks the reporters "That didn't sound to me like a non-denial denial. Could you have been wrong?" But when other editors suggest that the paper needs to back down, Bradlee writes a note that says "We stand by our story," which he calls "''My'' non-denial denial"; then he adds, "Fuck it, we'll stand by the boys." A 1976 newspaper article called an Olympic official's statement on blood doping "a non-denial denial, a Watergate denial",〔Anderson, Dave (1976), "The Blood Scandal", ''The New York Times,'' August 1, 1976, p. 139〕 an assessment of Ron Ziegler's career dubbed him "the non-denial denier" and placed his tenure as White House Press Secretary in "the Alice-in-Wonderland era that spawned the form of official evasion that came to be known as the non-denial denial".〔Purdum, Todd S. (2003), "(The Nondenial Denier )", ''The New York Times,'' February 16, 2003, p. WK5〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Non-denial denial」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|