Of the news organizations that had been offered off-the-record meetings, only The New York Times declined, the lawyer said.

Over the years, Dr. Rotblat's off-the-record meetings of Nobel laureates came to include government advisers and well-connected academics from both sides of the Iron Curtain.

There were also off-the-record meetings that brought together United Nations representatives, government officials and an assortment of specialists.

Mr. Frank denied that, saying, "We had many off-the-record meetings."

It was an off-the-record meeting arranged by Prof. Herbert Kelman of Harvard.

That mendacity, Mr. North said, occurred "in an informal, off-the-record meeting" with House Intelligence Committee staff, "a situation nobody should ever have been put in."

General Bachelet stood by his comments today, saying they were personal observations made at an off-the-record meeting with journalists.

Mr. Gore has also arranged for an off-the-record meeting with about 15 New York reporters at the Carnegie Deli in Midtown.

Not a closed-door, off-the-record meeting of selected people his campaign has chosen.

It's a trick he uses often-others attend off-the-record meetings or briefings, tell him about it, and he reports not just what was said, but fingers those who spoke as well.