The most remarkable feature of this discord is that the media discussion started based on a comment on PubMed by Dr. Doudna [1]. Just 5 minutes ago as of the time of this comment, another key player (Dr. Charpentier) has written a follow-up comment on PubMed [2].

This is the type of realtime feedback that would not have happened in a public forum just a few years ago.

(Disclosure: I have worked at the Broad and likely will again in the future.)

1 = https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/26771483/#cm26771483_1...

2 = https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/26771483/#cm26771483_1...