On 3 May 2010, the New York Times published a front-page story by John M. Broder and Tom Zeller Jr. purporting to be an analysis of last month’s oil rig explosion, oil spill (that has yet to be contained), and subsequent environmental disaster. One of the expert sources cited in the article is Quenton R. Dokken, executive director of the Gulf of Mexico Foundation. Broder and Zeller quote Dokken as saying, “The sky is not falling. We’ve certainly stepped in a hole and we’re going to have to work ourselves out of it, but it isn’t the end of the Gulf of Mexico.”
Apparently intrigued, Marian Wang at Propublica did a quick scan of the Gulf of Mexico Foundation’s website. Turns out that while the foundation claims to represent a broad range of interests, “at least half of the 19 members of the group’s board of directors have direct ties to the offshore drilling industry,” writes Wang. One of the Gulf of Mexico Foundation directors, Ian Hudson, is senior manager, corporate responsibility and environment (or was as of July 2009) at Transocean, the owner of the offshore drilling rig that exploded last month, according to Wang’s report and the Transocean website.
Times reporter Zeller responded to Wang’s report, claiming no foul. The Times provided links to “the various websites, so enterprising readers could peruse their boards and sponsors.” Translation: We write what we’re told. You can do your own source checking; we don’t have the impetus, time, or space.
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