I chalk what the Verge is finally pushing back against up to ignorance and amateurism serving a corporate bad faith agenda. Up until the rise of social media, a professional operating in good faith could be assumed to understand that “on background” (“on the record”, “off the record”, “deep background”, “not for attribution”, “embargoed”, etc.) has a very specific meaning and purpose. That can’t be assumed anymore, which meant that media shills could take advantage of callow reporters who might come into their job with no journalistic training.
Worse, I’ve heard of cases where there’s not even a release date or time attached to the embargo “stamp”. It’s just an empty buzzword the PR person thought would look good on the press release.
[Disclaimer: crabby former reporter, editor and fact-checker here]
