The Media, The Realtor, The Tension
Call me crazy, but the tension between the media and the real estate industry is 100% fascinating.
In case you missed it, there have been approximately 984,412 articles in the Twin Cities newsmedia the past two weeks on the local housing market. One on suburban foreclosures. One on the role of the credit crunch. Another on the troubles associated with vacant homes.
Realistically, this deluge of coverage isn’t that surprising. The recent news that February’s median sales price of $195,060 was 12.5 percent behind the same month last year is certainly something that any reputable news outlet should have an interest in reporting.
But in all of my face-to-face interactions with realtors, I get the impression that industry professionals are less than thrilled about all the recent press coverage. And really, I can’t blame them for feeling that way. The common accusation is that the media “goes negative” and sensationalized at the expense of providing the simple and unvarnished truth about the market.
All the emphasis on the negative aspects of the housing market in the media undoubtedly has had a depressing effect on consumer psychology and confidence. Few could argue with that. But as we all know, “truth” is a subjective phenomenon at best; it ain’t viewed in the same light by all parties. One man’s truth is another man’s spin.
And we also need to remember that there’s a stark, strong and necessary difference between the advertising arm of a large media outlet and the journalism arm of that same organization. Just because a newspaper gladly accepts our advertising dollars does not mean they then owe us any semblance of a “payback” in their actual news content. Journalism’s proud traditions require that the news remain untainted by the revenue concerns of the organizations that provide it.
I don't have a grand thesis to impart here. Just wanted to point out that the relationship between the media, real estate professionals and the general public is very complex, with no clear heroes or villians. Everyone’s got legitimate and illegitimate beef with everyone else. Yes, press coverage tends to accentuate the negative. Yes, this is probably having a troubling effect on consumer confidence. But the numbers really haven’t been that pretty, and we’re all collectively responsible for educating consumers about the full, nuanced reality of this market.
The item that sparked this whole train of thought was a great recent Inman News Article on the industry-wide tension between the media and the real estate industry.
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