The author also misses a really relevant fact, that modern lasers are an order of magnitude more efficient, so the 400MJ would be dramatically less, low enough to pass breakeven.
In fairness I don't think it's up to the author to speculate or do original research to make their point (that the media failed to do basic reporting on the experiment). Maybe there are modern lasers that are more efficient but then shouldn't they prove they are suitable enough for the task and do that experiment and report it?
