Last week, the Energy Institute sent a letter to the New York Times' Public Editor asking for an investigation into the Times' unbalanced series on shale gas. On Sunday, the Times' Public Editor, Arthur Brisbane, wrote the following column agreeing that the series has been unbalanced with poor sourcing:
Clashing Views on the Future of Natural GasBy ARTHUR S. BRISBANEPublished: July 16, 2011A NEW YORK TIMES article last month, “Insiders Sound an Alarm Amid a Natural Gas Rush,” warned across two columns at the top of the front page that high expectations for companies drilling shale gas might be headed for a fall. It was the kind of story you wish The Times had written about Enron before it collapsed. Or about Bernard Madoff.The June 26 article, written by Ian Urbina, was clearly intended to offer that kind of signal and specifically invoked “Enron,” “Ponzi schemes” and “dot-coms” in the early paragraphs.
Read more here.