As I write this, the commenting guidelines say “Aim to explain, not persuade” and “Approach disagreements with curiosity”. It doesn’t feel like the media policy embodies those values! Whenever I’ve seen media/outsiders criticize EA, EAs react defensively—which is a very normal human reaction, but hardly the kind of thing that should be coded into CEA policy.
My two cents is that if anyone is contacted by the media to discuss EA, they have no obligation whatsoever to follow CEA’s media policy. This isn’t a political party.
The media is an extremely different discursive environment than the EA forum and should have different guidelines.
I don’t want to assume that the public sphere cannot become earnestly truthseeking, but right now it isn’t at all and bad things happen if you treat it like it is.
Fwiw, I’m strongly in agreement that people do not have an obligation to follow CEA’s media policy (I work for CEA, am not speaking in that capacity exactly, but obviously it’s relevant!) I’m confused about what the ideal media policy is from an instrumental perspective, I found some of the ideas in this post and comments somewhat persuasive re: maybe instrumentally more EAs should be talking to the media, but on a community level, while I think there’s some context it would be good to have before talking to media (how it tends to work, whether a given journalist has an axe to grind, other things, though I don’t know exactly what happens when people contact CEA for media advice), I don’t think it’s people’s obligation to talk to CEA first (though I could end up thinking empirically it’s a bad and poorly judged decision to talk to media without guidance!).
if anyone is contacted by the media to discuss EA, they have no obligation whatsoever to follow CEA’s media policy. This isn’t a political party.
This specific statement is an extreme mischaracterization. Political parties have strict media policies because it is instrumentally convergent to avoid letting random strangers control your fate, and they have sufficient experience with the media for most members to know several reasons why this is the case.
It’s effectively the same class of fallacy as saying “EA is not an autocracy, therefore there should be no leadership at all”. EA requires a less strict media policy than political parties, not a total absence of a media policy at all.
Whenever I’ve seen media/outsiders criticize EA, EAs react defensively—which is a very normal human reaction.
I want to clarify that this is true and helpful to introduce to the conversation.
As I write this, the commenting guidelines say “Aim to explain, not persuade” and “Approach disagreements with curiosity”. It doesn’t feel like the media policy embodies those values! Whenever I’ve seen media/outsiders criticize EA, EAs react defensively—which is a very normal human reaction, but hardly the kind of thing that should be coded into CEA policy.
My two cents is that if anyone is contacted by the media to discuss EA, they have no obligation whatsoever to follow CEA’s media policy. This isn’t a political party.
The media is an extremely different discursive environment than the EA forum and should have different guidelines.
I don’t want to assume that the public sphere cannot become earnestly truthseeking, but right now it isn’t at all and bad things happen if you treat it like it is.
Fwiw, I’m strongly in agreement that people do not have an obligation to follow CEA’s media policy (I work for CEA, am not speaking in that capacity exactly, but obviously it’s relevant!) I’m confused about what the ideal media policy is from an instrumental perspective, I found some of the ideas in this post and comments somewhat persuasive re: maybe instrumentally more EAs should be talking to the media, but on a community level, while I think there’s some context it would be good to have before talking to media (how it tends to work, whether a given journalist has an axe to grind, other things, though I don’t know exactly what happens when people contact CEA for media advice), I don’t think it’s people’s obligation to talk to CEA first (though I could end up thinking empirically it’s a bad and poorly judged decision to talk to media without guidance!).
This specific statement is an extreme mischaracterization. Political parties have strict media policies because it is instrumentally convergent to avoid letting random strangers control your fate, and they have sufficient experience with the media for most members to know several reasons why this is the case.
It’s effectively the same class of fallacy as saying “EA is not an autocracy, therefore there should be no leadership at all”. EA requires a less strict media policy than political parties, not a total absence of a media policy at all.
I want to clarify that this is true and helpful to introduce to the conversation.