Who knows? He is not here to answer the question so the best any of us can do is speculate. Only a few of us here were in the Nation at the time and only a few of us have any memory of the conflict within the Nation.
What I do know is that Brother Malcolm did not have to go to the media at the time. His profile was high so the media came to him. He often spoke at the white left militant Labor forums and after the shooting at the Mosque in Los Angeles he broke his silence on a number of issues, so I think a more correct question would be why did he break his silence to the media? The answer to this question is matter of record.
Rumors and speculation aside, the police shooting at the Los Angeles Mosque is what changed brother Malcolm's actions in regards to speaking to the white media. He personally was enraged because of the lack of response by the NOI leadership. The police busted in on a service and shot up the joint. I remember this because I was there. Most of the members at the LA Mosque were recruited by Brother Malcolm, including my step-sister and her husband, Brother Bobby (Morehead), who was a local Minister. This is when Brother Malcolm started questioning the do nothing approach and response to attacks against the membership. This much has been recorded by his cousin who was part of the LA Mosque leadership, Hakim Jamal.
The interesting thing about this is that some members in the LA NOI used to stay strapped. My step dad got my family in trouble because of this. He stayed strapped. Always was riding with shotguns and rifles. He was not the only one and brother Malcolm knew that after the shooting at the Mosque that if he did not speak out he would lose his membership. A few years later it would be the same base which would become his first OAAU charter members in Los Angeles, including my Mom.