The Times, the venerable British newspaper with the monosyllabic name has often been called "the Thunderer" (and sometimes "the Blunderer") for good reason. Often wont to jump into the issues of the day and take up editorial positions without fear or favour, the Times has, in times past, earned a reputation as the leading journal of Europe. In recent times, the paper has shown signs of slipping. Forced to convert to a tabloid format in late 2003 to combat falling circulation and dropping revenues, The Times has sadly appeared, of late, to compromise their admirable and long held standards of journalistic exactitude and evenhandedness.

How else can we reconcile the mid May article by its columnist, Camilla Cavendish entitled "A renewable force meets an irreplaceable object." Writing on the Neste Oil's foundation stone ceremony to officiate the construction of its NExBTL renewable diesel plant in Singapore on May 11th, 2009, a plant that promises to produce biodiesel that can halve emissions from diesel cars, Cavendish writes: "Right now, however, its wonder ingredient is Malaysian palm oil. And that is a problem. European demand for palm oil has led to widespread destruction of rainforests in Malaysia and Indonesia, to make way for plantations."
"In Indonesia, the amount of land devoted to growing palm oil has more than doubled in ten years, mainly to supply ingredients for Western food and cosmetics. If the market for diesel from palm oil takes off, spurred by EU subsidies, even more rainforest will be destroyed to create more plantations," she continues.
It behooves one to ask whether Cavendish had done any fact checking before she wrote her column.
It is well established that one of the main tenets of journalism ethics requires even-handedness in handling any story, a natural dictate, shall we say, to present both sides of a story, being fair to both.