In 2005, Pogue was the subject of a conflict-of-interest controversy. In a New York Times review of a hard drive recovery service, Pogue noted that the service, which can cost from $500 to $2,700, was provided at no charge for the purposes of the review;[9] but when describing the service for National Public Radio's Morning Edition program on September 12, 2005,[10] he failed to mention this. NPR's Vice President of News Bill Marimow later stated that NPR should have either not aired the review or paid for the services itself.[10] Ultimately, the Times paid for the service.[9] Also called into question was Pogue's impartiality on reviews of products for which he had authored a Missing Manual book. This controversy necessitated a response from Clark Hoyt, the Times' Public Editor on Pogue's role as a freelance journalist with external obligations.[11] In an op-ed piece, Hoyt wrote "His multiple interests and loyalties raise interesting ethical issues in this new age when individual journalists can become brands of their own, stars who seem to transcend the old rules that sharply limited outside activity and demanded an overriding obligation to The Times and its readers."[11] Of three ethicists consulted, each agreed Pogue's position created a "clear conflict of interest" and placed the paper on "tricky ethical terrain." In response, Pogue pledged to be more open with his conflicts of interest, and while he initially claimed that because he is not a journalist he is not bound by journalistic ethics,[12] he soon recanted and agreed to offer a full "fanboy disclosure" on his website. In June 2011 Pogue gave a presentation at the Media Relations Summit[13] in which he credits P.R. personnel (of companies whose product he is reviewing) of providing most of his material for columns. The Times' reader representative started an inquiry, which led to Pogue being banned from any such appearances in the future.[14]