Reporting on standards committee meetings: a step toward open standards

The value of open standards is acclaimed by many. One aspect of open standards is open access to the standards meeting. Open access can be increased through media reports on standards committee meetings. More participation by the news media in reporting on standards meetings is necessary as technology becomes more important to society, and would benefit the standards process and all the stakeholders in that process. This paper classifies the different segments of the news media both by type of readership and by current styles of standards reporting that they exhibit. Benefits of increased media reporting on standards meetings are discussed. A three-pronged approach for both the standards development organizations and the news media is proposed to increase "good" media coverage. Concerns of increased media reporting on standards meetings are also raised