Non-denial denial is a term for a particular kind of equivocation; specifically, an apparent denial that, though it appeared clearcut and unambiguous when heard, on examination turns out to be ambiguous and not a denial at all. The phrase is particularly associated with politics and means in effect "something made to sound like a denial without actually being one."

A non-denial denial is not a lie as such, because what is said is literally true, but is instead a form of deception.

The phrase was popularized during the Watergate era by Woodward and Bernstein in their book All the President's Men, in reference to evasive statements by then-Attorney-General John Mitchell.

Examples of the sort of language used in non-denial denials include:

• Characterizing a statement as "ridiculous" or "absurd" without saying specifically that it is not true;
• Saying "We are not going to dignify ^* with a response;"
• Impugning the general reliability of a source (e.g. Mitchell, "The so-called sources of the Washington Post are a fountain of misinformation") without addressing the particular fact alleged by the source.
• Denying a more specific version of events than that which was actually alleged. For example, for an allegation of corruption, saying "I have never received any money from anyone in the party" when an exchange of goods took place, or denying that a company is about to sack (fire) 500 people, and then going on to sack 600.

Real world examples

One of the most famous non-denial denials was given by then senior British Conservative politician, Michael Heseltine, who, when asked if he would ever challenge Margaret Thatcher for the party leadership, said he could "not conceive" of a situation where he would do so. When he later did challenge Thatcher, his explanation for his apparent change of mind was that a situation had arisen that he previously had not conceived of occurring.

A second famous example occurred when President of the United States George Bush made his " no new taxes" speech in which he promised "no new taxes." When Bush later raised taxes, many Americans were outraged. However, Bush never said he would not raise existing taxes. "No new taxes" evidently referred to creating new taxes, which he did not.

A third famous example occurred during the scandal over Monica Lewinsky that engulfed then President of the United States Bill Clinton. Clinton was accused of having sex with her; he issued an apparently unambiguous denial, stating, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." It later transpired that the truth of the statement hinged on Clinton's use of a narrow legal definition of "sexual relations" - that sex is defined in many legal codes as a person having physical contact with another person's sexual organs. By this limited definition, the act of fellatio did not qualify as Clinton "having sex" with Lewinsky because he had not touched her vagina, anus, or breasts. Many viewers, however, unaware of Clinton's narrower definition of having sex, took his denial to mean that no sex act, whether genital contact or oral-genital contact, took place.

A fourth famous example is given by Tony Blair who was interviewed in 1997, just before the general election, by the British newspaper Evening Standard. The question was: "Will Labour introduce tuition fees for higher education?" Tony Blair's answer was: "Labour has no plans to introduce tuition fees for higher education.". No plans does not mean no tuition fees. The Labour party used the same ambiguous wording in its manifesto for the election in 2001, writing: "We will not introduce 'top-up' fees and have legislated to prevent them." The increase of university fees up to £3000 was voted before the next election in 2005 but implemented in 2006. Therefore the British government explained that the manifesto in 2001 was only valid for the period up to the election in 2005.

Another famous case occurred in the Republic of Ireland when in June 1989 former Taoiseach Charles J. Haughey said that coalition governments went against "every fibre of my being," a phrase listeners presumed indicated he would never lead his party into a coalition with another party. When weeks later he led his party, Fianna Fáil, into its first ever coalition government, a spokesman denied that Haughey had lied, stating that "Charlie never said he would never lead his party into a coalition, just that he was uncomfortable with the idea in theory. Listen to what he actually said, not what you think he was implying."

As a PR tool

Non-denial denials and their variants are seen as examples of public relations and political spin, namely the conveying of an ambiguous message in an apparently unambiguous manner that contains enough "get out clauses" to enable the person using the language to apparently break their word if necessary with the explanation that the listener had misunderstood the words and read into them a certainty that, when closely examined, proved not to be there in reality. As a result, the person being communicated to, not the person doing the communicating, is blamed for any divergence between what the words appeared to mean and subsequent acts. This effect is increased by a short statement from the relevant person being later backed up by a spokesman saying, eg, "The president has been extremely clear on this matter and will not be taking further questions."

See also

• Non-apology apology
• Soundbite
• YMSTICPC

External link

• Definition of lie, American Heritage Dictionary, 4th edition, 2000

Public relations