In this case, the Times falls far short of that standard in its discussion of the controversy over shale gas and the extraction technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

FORBES: New York Times Blunders into Advocacy Role on the Fracking Debate -- Children are the Victims

Three proposals are currently advancing in the state Assembly to prohibit hydraulic fracturing in California until various studies can be done to definitively establish that the six decade-old gas extraction technique is 100% safe.

FORBES: Anti-Hydraulic Fracturing Activists Focus Firepower on California