[Edit: This written mostly with recent examples of bad journalism in mind (including the NYT/SSC affair). Not intended for less fraught situations.]
Refuse to grant them an interview unless they agree to prominently include a link to your own side of the story.
Consider contacting competing reporters and offering them the same deal. Tell them that you are shopping around.
Get them to agree to it in writing, and require them to display the language of the agreement somewhere on the page of the final article.
Find a polite way to say, “nothing personal, but your profession carries a reputation for untrustworthiness.” Nah, the commenters changed my mind about this. It would be better to just say, “no comment.”
Build a reputation (or advertise an official policy) for waiting at least X days before responding to requests for comment.
Build a reputation for being a respectable, sober expert. Then, when a journalist wants to collapse your forecast into a point estimate, go ahead and give them such a point estimate...but make it absurd enough that the smart & conscientious readers might feel compelled to do a fact check.
“Top Forecasting Team Says World Population in 2050 Will be Only Six Thousand!”
“Human-Level AI in 3100-3200 Years, No Sooner, No Later!”
“Comfortable Martian Colony on June 3rd, 2079!”
“The Next Pandemic Will Occur on My Mom’s 88th birthday, According to Leading Biosecurity Researcher”
Some ideas for interacting with reporters
[Edit: This written mostly with recent examples of bad journalism in mind (including the NYT/SSC affair). Not intended for less fraught situations.]
Refuse to grant them an interview unless they agree to prominently include a link to your own side of the story.
Consider contacting competing reporters and offering them the same deal. Tell them that you are shopping around.
Get them to agree to it in writing, and require them to display the language of the agreement somewhere on the page of the final article.
Find a polite way to say, “nothing personal, but your profession carries a reputation for untrustworthiness.” Nah, the commenters changed my mind about this. It would be better to just say, “no comment.”
Screenshot everything they say.
Consider getting into the habit of giving glomar responses.
Build a reputation (or advertise an official policy) for waiting at least X days before responding to requests for comment.
Build a reputation for being a respectable, sober expert. Then, when a journalist wants to collapse your forecast into a point estimate, go ahead and give them such a point estimate...but make it absurd enough that the smart & conscientious readers might feel compelled to do a fact check.
“Top Forecasting Team Says World Population in 2050 Will be Only Six Thousand!”
“Human-Level AI in 3100-3200 Years, No Sooner, No Later!”
“Comfortable Martian Colony on June 3rd, 2079!”
“The Next Pandemic Will Occur on My Mom’s 88th birthday, According to Leading Biosecurity Researcher”