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Highway Safety Agency Silences Engineers
nbauman writes "Nichole R. Nason, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, put a new rule into effect that NHTSA officials, including scientists and engineers, are no longer allowed to be quoted by reporters, according to the New York Times. If the officials want to say anything it has to be off the record. The only one they can quote is Nason herself. However, she refused to be interviewed about the no-attribution policy."
I think you missed the point of this move. This move does not prohibit employees from talking with the press, what it explicitly enforces is that the only official voice of the organization is its head. I fail to see how this is a lack of transparency, because anything employees say can still meet the press. Any allegations of bribery etc, can still get to the press. This just means that a random engineer can't claim to represent the whole organization. This seems like a very sensible policy to have in place. Many organizations have to have their lawyers present whenever anyone gets interviewed or have a pre-interview with the lawyers where they delineate what things the engineers are allowed to comment on and what they are not. With a blanket ban on this, there is no misunderstanding, the press knows that no employees can be considered to represent the organization without explicit clear approval. On a case by case basis, the head could allow specific people to meet on the record for specific purposes.
If I'm wrong or missing something please let me know.
Gravity Sucks
I'm a computer nerd who happens to work for the City of New York (you might have heard of us). My agency has a communications bureau whose job it is to deal with the press. Why should I be on the hot seat in front of a bunch of blazing cameras, answering questions from interviewers who are trying to lead me down a dark path toward fanning the flames of controversy? Responding to the media is not my job and our training programs teach us to direct the press to the communications office -- that's the right thing to do. My agency has many specialized bureaus and the issue of the day that the media is interested in is likely to be in a realm in which I am not an expert...even if the issue is within my bureau, I am an expert in TECHNOLOGY and should never put myself in a position where someone is asking me questions about, say Immunology. If I am stupid enough to answer the media's questions, the media will say that "a Health Department official said this, that, and the other," and broadcast it to anyone willing to take it as truth...even though I have my head lodged deep in my @$$. Now, if I see something disturbing while in the course of my official duties, I can not resolve the situation internally (I have excellent management; issues get resolved in my bureau -- this has not hapenned in my 5 years here so far), and the other avenues for resolving this issue are blocked (say, I take the issue to mediation within the city and I get struck down because I'm a peon taking on one of the big-wigs) AND the issue harms the taxpayers that I am working to protect THEN I have an obligation to my community in the City of New York to go to the media with my issue. And if I do this frivolously or am simply in the wrong on the issue, then I need to be a man and face the consequences of my actions, including dismissal and being sued by the city for slander or libel.