Непрямое отрицание: искусство уклонения от ответа

Statement that seems to deny an accusation but does not

A non denial denial is a statement that, at first hearing, seems to be a direct, clearcut and unambiguous denial of some allegation or accusation, but after being parsed carefully 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. British 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".

The Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee "is credited with coining the phrase non denial denial to characterize the evasive Oval Office answers to questions." 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", while a 2003 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".

Another example, characterized by the BBC as a "non denial denial", was provided 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?" Blair's answer was: "Labour has no plans to introduce tuition fees for higher education." No plans does not mean no tuition fees, nor even that there was no intention to introduce them, perhaps only that the plan for this was not finalized. 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 for 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.