thank you
To Ian W - thank you for the explanatory post. Yes, there is a responsibility to communicate as you have described.
Perhaps the problem is one of perception, in that the media, the rumor-writers and readers, and so, miss the important contextual words and limitations, the "preliminary-ness" of the message as you described it.
And/or, to some extent, perhaps the messengers omitted some, or most, or nearly all, of the sense of "preliminary-ness".
But what you have said about how the system is supposed to work in such a factual context, spot on, and again, "Gratitude."