The media ate my home sale

"The standoff between buyers and sellers seems to have broadened into a standoff between the real estate industry and the media," writes fellow colleague Ron Roel, who worked as a reporter and editor at New York Newsday for 20+ years. Roel recently published a white paper looking at news coverage of the housing market.

Roel notes that it's been a rough year for housing coverage with the downturn making headlines. But another rough patch came last week in the aftermath of the "60 Minutes" expose on Redfin and real estate commissions.

Every so often, commissions become a hot topic and get picked apart by big media outlets: Are real estate commissions too high? What is up with that magical number, 6%? How can one company do this for 2% when others will not? They ask and the industry goes on the defensive.

Roel's analysis looks at coverage of the housing slowdown rather than commissions. At Inman News, we can certainly relate to those inevitable letters from readers saying "Why do you continue to cover negative stories about the housing market?" While we're not "big media" that drops in on housing coverage during a boom and bust, we often get accused of focusing on the bad news.

Roel, who is currently the co-founder of Real Estate Next, takes an in-depth look at the media blame game and interviews sources from the real estate industry, communications and academics. Read the full report here.

All rights reserved. This article may not be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, in part or in whole, without written permission of Inman News. Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright law.