Couple of thoughts
It has been reliably reported
About Qantas - Media Room - Media Releases that the captain gave a spiel around top of descent explaining that weather radar is good at defining rain, and not designed to paint ice crystals so
The green Goblin is spot on the money.
Originally Posted by The green Goblin
I would assume that the flight crew may have issued an apology to the punters and explained that wx radar is not too good at detecting CAT.
Punters walk away hearing that the wx radar was not working and that is the reason why they encountered the CAT.
The identification of the pilot from the start is not, in my opinion, any sort of problem. All incidents which attract mejia attention inevitably have crew names made available, and the good guys (Sulleberger, Moody for example) become recognisable names. It is media friendly to identify the captain early, and QF are trying very hard to be media friendly. That's why the QF press release preceded the PER arrival. It was a largely successful attempt to get the facts out before the bogan version became "truth".
FWIW