Rotten article -- tape not for publication (3,3,6)
I believe the answer is:
off the record
'not for publication' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'rotten article tape' is the wordplay.
'rotten' becomes 'off' (I've seen this before).
'article' becomes 'the' (the 'definite article' part of speech).
'tape' becomes 'record' ('record' can be a synonym of 'tape').
'off'+'the'+'record'='OFF-THE-RECORD'
(Other definitions for off the record that I've seen before include "not publicly aired" , "Not to be reported" , "Not for quotation" , "Unofficially" , "Taken from a disc" .)