MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown” ran a segment this morning that many journalists and their sources find perpetually confusing – the rules on sourcing information.

“In my view, the term ‘On the record’ everyone can understand,” said NYT reporter Mark Leibovich who appeared in the segment. “Beyond that, any of the gradations…mean nothing.”

Albert Oetgen, managing editor of NBC News’s Washington bureau, has studied the topic and wrote a story on it with “Daily Rundown” co-host Chuck Todd in the The Atlantic that published Monday. The piece’s headline: “When ‘Bite Me’ is ‘Off the Record.’”

Oetgen stressed that terms mean little and reporters should reach a personal understanding with those they cover. “You have to ignore the terms and make the agreement with the people you interview,” he said.

But there’s a wrinkle. The terms mean different things to different people….

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Albert Oetgen‘s role has been expanded to Managing Editor, senioring both Nightly News and the Today Show, and Meaghan Rady joins him from the NBC LA Bureau as a Coordinating Producer for those shows. Ken Strickland and Jay Blackman have been named Supervising Producers, and Scott Foster a White House producer. In the newsroom, Tony Capra has been named Manager of the News Desk.

Whitaker’s memo to the bureau after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.