Maybe IETF should be thinking about what actions and
policies, uniformly applied, will result in the most accurate
representation of its work to the community.
In my experience, the best action to take would be to advise,
or teach, people how to handle media interviews. Back when I
used to regularly talk to journalists I had no problem with
their articles because I planned the interviews in advance.
I made sure that I had no more than two or three key points
to make, I prepared a sound bite or two, and I repeated myself.
There is an art in taking complex technical material and
explaining it in layman's terms, but that is exactly what
you must do with journalists if you want them to accurately
represent your message. Even journalists who cover technology
are not technologists themselves. Their specialty is writing
and they can only write what you CLEARLY and consistently
explain to them.
It can be especially hard for people with a deep technical
understanding of something, complete with a multitude of
corner cases, to summarize in laymans' terms and gloss
over the details. That's why I agree with Keith that some
IETF action would be beneficial here.
Note that one way to approach the issue is to hold official
press conferences at which only accredited members of the
press can ask questions. By doing this you focus attention
on a few people who would, hopefully, prepare for the event
and understand how to explain the work to ordinary people
like journalists and their readers. This doesn't prevent the
press from attending other meetings and it doesn't prevent
IETF members from talking to the press. What it does do is
hold out the carrot of quality communication, and one hopes
that the press will appreciate the effort and make full use
of it. Indeed, the invitations should explicitly solicit
clarifying questions about anything that the journalist
has already begun working on.
--Michael Dillon
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