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Stock response

If, on the other hand, you are a journalist asking for an official response to a mining accident – which, of course, doesn’t make any official or the industry governing body as a whole look good – the official you’re seeking may not want to meet you. Instead, he may have his people give you a seemingly harmlessly polite reply: “He’s not in at the moment. Please leave your contact information and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”

That’s the kind of standard answer journalists get everyday, harmless perhaps, but trite and dull. And they do not buy it. They know the official might be right there sitting behind the desk, face in his hands, his hands on elbow, leaning on the table racking his brains in search of an escape route from yet another black-eye incident.

Sometimes, of course, officials will have his people give you a more interesting but less professional answer, for instance, a blunt “He’s not in. No-one knows where he is.”

Ah, well, you get the point. Here is a media example of what a real stock response from authorities looks like:

The Bush administration reacted angrily yesterday to renewed accusations that it may have ignored advance warning of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. The White House reluctantly confirmed that the president received a letter from Osama Bin Laden just days before the attack. The letter, written on stationery labeled “The Caves at Tora Bora: A Luxury Terrorist Headquarters and Spa,” is believed by the FBI to be genuine. It said: