I just returned home to D.C. after a series of lectures and consultations in Europe where I spoke of the value of using Twitter to, among other things, openly exchange news and information with people in countries that impose press restrictions. And, what do I find when the planes lands?!

Twitter users are being bombarded by malicious phishing messages enticing them to enter their @IDs so they can innocently be used to post more phony messages. I didn’t realize the magnitude of the problem until getting an email early today from David Meerman Scott, and reading his blog. Here’s an excerpt:

In my opinion, Twitter has not been communicating as well as it should be during this crisis. As I look at my friends feeds, nearly everyone is talking about this issue. Yet, Twitter has three feeble communications as of this writing.

1) Three tweets from the @twitter ID providing a bit of information.

2) A short post on the Twitter blog

3) A warning on the Twitter home page.

David also wrote about reading an interview with Biz Stone, head of Twitter, who turned down a $500 million offer to buy Twitter from Facebook. By a humorously cruel twist of fate, the interview appeared this past weekend, when the phishing problem began:

Stone’s interview seems a bit arrogant based on what was happening this weekend.

Many people rely on the Twitter service. Sure, it’s free and we get what we pay for. But if Biz Stone and his colleagues (and the VC firms backing the company) want a bigger payday than a half a billion, then they’ll need to manage this crisis better. Much better. Starting now.

I think Twitter should be doing more to inform users.

I’d suggest hourly updates on the Twitter blog. Maybe set up a new Twitter ID that can be the official place where people go. A YouTube video that you put on the Twitter homepage to inform people. Whatever. But you’ve got to do more than you’re doing.

The Design for Users blog has an excellent post on this subject called Communicate, Inform, Address Users When Things Go Wrong Online.

What do I believe Twitter should do to handle this crisis?

1. Seek the help and counsel of Twitter’s most frequent and skilled users, who also happen to be very smart people.
2. Openly and prominently warn Twitter users of the problem, and ask users to send solutions to a special email address (Twitter, the company, is currently very insular).
3. List what Twitter users can do to avoid phishing.
4. Publicly and opening admit the problem and list steps being taken to find a fix.
5. Not hire a big PR company because, chances are, they don’t know what Twitter is and will only make matters worse … in the interest of maximizing billable hours.
6. Humbly ask Facebook for help.

There is no corporate sponsor, no deep-pockets. Simply five visionary young adults - Ruha Reyhani, Clare O’Brien, Vahid Khamsi, Martin Kummel and Neysan Zölzer. They and the 230 young adult professionals from 40 nations who have attended this week-long conference on defining the future are, in my opinion, among the best and brightest of tomorrow’s leaders.

The five organizers all have “day jobs” yet have found the time to communicate and coordinate … mostly by email … a major conference that focuses on defining visionary leadership principles. In the process, they have attracted speakers from all over the world, ranging from actor Rainn Wilson, writer Holiday Reinhorn and Italian business leader Giuseppe Robiati to Dr. Moshe Sharon, a distinguished scholar from Hebrew University.

It’s intense - daily lectures and workshops for eight to 12 hours.

I have never before seen, known or participated in such a meaningful conference. My wife, Kit Bigelow, who is one of the speakers, has described the event simply as, “humorously soul uplifting.” I look at the faces of the young adults, and see the world’s future.

Check out this cool animated slideshow the Changing Times leaders created at the end of the conference, featuring the music of Andy Grammer.

I have never before known of such an astonishing conference that brings together 230 young adult professionals from 40 countries to learn and share information. The best comparison, I believe, is to say that Changing Times, now in its 7th year, is approaching the caliber of the annual Davos Economic Forum … except Changing Times is for tomorrow’s world leaders. The young professionals at this conference are among the brightest people I have ever met. They come from academics, medicine, technology and business.

A few of the speakers include Dr. Moshe Sharon from Hebrew University in Jerusalem; Italian business leader Giuseppe Robiati; Mr. Ian Semple; Mr. Burhaniddin Afshin; actor Phillip Hinton; award-winning fiction writer Holiday Reinhorn; and, the popular American actor, Rainn Wilson.

I will be blogging about Changing Times over the next few days. In the meantime, here’s a short music video from the event …

After the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, RFE/RL seemed to fall off my screen of awareness, mostly because I only knew of one facet of the news organization’s work. Yet, in the intervening years, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has quietly grown to become one of the world’s most important news services.

I recently toured RFE/RL’s headquarters in Prague with my wife, Kit Bigelow, as guests of Jeff Gedmin (right), the news organization’s President and CEO. RFE/RL’s news service into Iran, Radio Farda, was interested in interviewing Kit because of her role as Washington representative for the Baha’i Faith, a religion whose members in Iran are persecuted by the government.

We sat-in on the daily editorial meeting, attended by representatives from all of RFE/RL’s news teams. It was perhaps the highest level world news briefing I have ever witnessed.

Jeff and Abbas Djavadi, RFE/RL’s Associate Director of Broadcasting, gave us an eye-opening briefing on RFE/RL’s current and massive news operations around the world to deliver news to people in countries where a free flow of news and information is restricted, such as Iran and the countries of Central and South Asia, including Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. RFE/RL reaches into 21 countries in 28 languages, using short and medium-wave broadcasts, FM radio, and the Internet.

Unlike the Voice of America, which broadcasts news about the United States to countries around the world, RFE/RL’s role is more challenging … it is to cover the news in those frequently hostile places where governments work to suppress the media and free speech. Those governments sometimes take measures to stop RFE/RL’s news coverage by threat or murder. An RFE/RL journalist was gunned down just a block away from the news organization’s heavily guarded studios in downtown Prague. Other RFE/RL journalists have been detained or held for ransom in recent years.

In a fast-changing media, when we are seeing the demise of mainstream newspapers and broadcast around the world, RFE/RL’s role as a practitioner of solid journalism has never been more important. If it were not for this news source, millions of people around the world would have no voice, free or otherwise.

It’s a 24-hour non-stop news operation that includes listening to a continuous flow of news dispatches sent out of those countries to RFE/RL via SMS, email and other online methods, either by RFE/RL’s own reporters or ordinary people who take a risk by speaking out for freedom of speech.

RFE/RL, with a staff worldwide of 550 journalists, is funded by the United States Congress on a rather meager budget of around $80-million. By today’s news media standards, that’s not a lot of money. I believe it is among the most important funding done by the U.S. government.

I have written numerous times before on this blog about the dire need to repair America’s reputation around the world, which has been damaged beyond imagination during the last eight years. While Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s assignment has never been to propagandize or to promote the U.S., it’s work is more critical than ever now, and here’s why … RFE/RL’s legacy is free speech and balanced, credible journalism. The daily work done by this fine organization quietly and credibly represents what America is truly all about.

Here’s an excerpt with a link at the bottom to his entire Ethics Statement:

Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.

I am not an objective news reporter, and am not responsible for business coverage of technology companies. I am a subjective opinion columnist, a reviewer of consumer technology products and a commentator on technology issues. I don’t offer investment advice, or follow the financial progress or stock prices of technology companies. I focus on products and services, not revenues and earnings.

I don’t accept any money, free products, or anything else of value, from the companies whose products I cover, or from their public relations or advertising agencies. I also don’t accept trips, speaking fees, or product discounts from companies whose products I cover, or from their public relations or advertising agencies. I don’t serve as a consultant to any companies, or serve on any corporate boards or advisory boards.

Is there any question why this man is so highly respected, and an authentic leader?

Click here to read the rest of his Ethics Statement.

Let me just add that All Things Digital’s Kara Swisher also has an ethics statement, as does Katie Boehret, and all the other writers and editors on the site.