Journalists too easy on real estate brokers?

In a reason.com editorial, FutureOfCapitalism.com editor Ira Stoll takes a swipe at Douglas Elliman Real Estate CEO Dottie Herman’s assessment in a glossy “Elliman Magazine” newspaper insert that housing  affordability is at an all-time high, and that homebuyers should be prepared to move quickly before interest rates start to climb.  Stoll wonders why real estate brokers seem to get a free pass from the press, pointing out that not only is Elliman a big newspaper advertiser and paid to have its magazine inserted into newspapers, but that two journalists — Maura Egan, features director of T, The new York Times Style Magazine, and Jason Sheftell, real estate editor of the New York Daily News — are listed as Elliman Magazine contributors. The editors “are literally … on her payroll,” Stoll complains. Source: reason.com.