[Foundation-l] WMF and the press

[Florence Devouard]

Anthony wrote:
> On Sun, Apr 27, 2008 at 5:39 AM, Florence Devouard <Anthere9 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>  If we must maintain a common voice, the main question left is "who is in
>>  control of the information distributed", and what will be the channels
>>  of distribution of the information. In an internet area, the one who has
>>  control over the information distributed or not distributed, has in
>>  reality control of the organization. That's basic strategy.
>>
> It's unclear to me exactly what you're trying to say, but when you put
> it that way, isn't it obvious that maintaining a common voice is a bad
> idea?  The leaks to the press, then, are not disastrous, but the only
> hope for salvation.
> 
> In any case, the explanation that the press is considered bad because
> the Foundation seeks to maintain a common voice is a good one.  In a
> private response someone said to me that the Foundation dislikes the
> press because the Foundation is doing inappropriate things (my
> paraphrase).  My response was that even if *some individuals* in the
> Foundation are doing inappropriate things, it is still in the best
> interests of the Foundation *as a whole* to reveal those things, so
> that it is much more likely that similar things don't happen again.

As far as I can say, no individuals are doing inappropriate things in 
the Foundation, so there is nothing to reveal.
The problem is that, in our organization, just as in any organization, 
there are sometimes some disagreements in the way things are run (eg, 
Lodewijk this morning). These disagreements are normal. And the 
appropriate way to help solve these disagreements is by talking through 
them.
What is bad is to make too much noise around each disagreement, putting 
too much importance in them, or inventing arguments, inventing other 
stories to further fuel the disagreements.

Ant