Dive Brief: 

• The New York Times dealt with an awkward side effect of ad tech last weekend when an ad for oil company Statoil appeared next to article praising the company.
• The piece "The Downside of Boom" profiled oil companies in North Dakota and cast them in a negative light—except for Statoil which the piece praised for its safety record. 
• The ad was delivered from an automated auction and wasn't meant to be a paid endorsement from New York Times. 

Dive Insight: 

The problem the New York Times— and the industry as a whole—learned is that anything automated cannot account for every possible scenario. The situation brings to light a need for review of ad placement even if it's all purchased programmatically. There's still a balancing act that the industry is figuring out.