Explain an embargo before sharing information

Putting ‘embargoed’ above an email does not tell you whether its recipient has agreed to wait. If timing matters, establish the arrangement before sharing the restricted information. Treat the discussion as a clear request between people, not as a technical feature of the document.

Explain what material you propose to share and why advance access is useful. A complex report may need reading time; an interview may need arranging before a public announcement. Those are more informative reasons than wanting to create artificial excitement. Ask whether the recipient is willing to receive the material on the proposed timing basis, and allow them to decline.

Remove ambiguity from the release time

Specify a complete date, clock time and time zone. ‘Tomorrow morning’ becomes unclear when an email is forwarded or read elsewhere. In an illustrative arrangement, you might write ‘Not for publication before 09:00 London time on 18 November’ and confirm the relevant date with everyone involved. Avoid abbreviations whose meaning the recipient may interpret differently.

Agree which material the timing covers. A background conversation, a downloadable report and a photograph may not all have the same status. Do not assume that permission to discuss one item includes an agreement about everything in an attachment folder. Keep the arrangement in a form the participants can refer to, and avoid sending confidential details before the recipient accepts your proposed handling.

Plan the public release too

The website, social posts, partner messages and spokesperson briefing need compatible timing. An embargo conversation is undermined if another part of the organisation publishes the same facts early. Check scheduled materials and tell relevant colleagues which version will become public. Make the public source available when the agreed time arrives so readers can inspect the supporting information.

If circumstances change, contact recipients promptly and explain the new proposal. Do not silently edit the date on a file or assume a later release time is accepted. If information becomes public early, communicate the situation rather than pretending the original plan remains intact.

This is an editorial coordination process, not a promise of legal protection or guaranteed coverage. For information that cannot safely be disclosed without formal safeguards, seek the appropriate internal advice before sharing it. An embargo should help accurate preparation; it should not be used to avoid answering questions or to pressure someone into publishing a predetermined story.