What Does Embargo Mean?

The term embargo means some type of restriction or ban. Embargo as a noun refers to a government order imposing a trade barrier. Embargo as a verb has two different meanings: Ban the publication of (documents) for security or copyright reasons and to prevent commerce. The term embargo is a popular term in the world of public relations.

An embargoed release is a media release or announcement that is shared with the media in advance of its publishing date. It’s much different than being 'off the record' which is never supposed to be published at all, embargoed information is intended to be published. The release will share confidential information with the journalist, but it is shared with the understanding that it is meant to remain confidential until the stated publishing date. The date will be clearly stated at the beginning of the press release. This process requires a great deal of trust on behalf of the journalist as the public relations agency are asking the journalist to respect their wishes.

Embargoes allow companies to send out information to journalists prior to the release date to give them notice of the upcoming news. This will allow the journalist to prepare their stories in advance and gain additional insight that may not be available if this was just another breaking news story. A final reason why embargoed releases are used is to ensure that information is released at the same time across a variety of media sources.

This allows the stories to be published simultaneously. Of course embargoes can be broken as PR firms sometimes appear to be out of control with their demands. There is no downside to breaking an embargo just that the PR firm gets annoyed but they don’t necessarily stop working with the offending publication or writer.

An embargo refers to some form of prohibition or ban. It specifically refers to a directive of the government ordering to end and prohibiting the access of its ports and restricting the movement of ships located there. In the modern world it is a step taken by a government to stop or restrict trading with other nations.

The word Embargo comes from the Spanish word "embargar" which means "to impede" and is derived from the Latin word "imbarricare" which means "to barricade".

In the era of the United Nations Embargos are seen as a weapon used very frequently by America and its allies including Great Britain to bring non military pressure on countries to comply with their demands.

In many ways embargos in the modern day an age affect a nation's people more than the ruling elite as most embargos can be circumvented.

Taking things from another country