They have gotten more dissociated from MIT in the past decade, but I believe MIT still owns the company that currently publishes it, so ultimately has some kind

They have gotten more dissociated from MIT in the past decade, but I believe MIT still owns the company that currently publishes it, so ultimately has some kind of control (or could in principle have control, if they cared to exercise it). I think overall they probably aren't unhappy with it, since MIT has long had quite a bit of tolerance (or even love) for the scientific hype machine, and the backlash tends to be infrequent and almost exclusively among academics, while the general public eats it up. I don't really single out MIT; plenty of universities' PR offices, if given the chance, would publish a magazine similar or worse. Though perhaps with their large reach and stacks of cash, MIT could afford to be more careful than most, and set a better example.