Comments on: Housing Bubble Coverage: Defending the Indefensible

By: J. Seigel

J. Seigel — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:39:06 +0000

Dan,
Many great points — but where are the facts? A comparison of real estate-warning vs. booster stories in just one publication would begin to give actual evidence for this latest round of media bubblemeisters, a la S &L, Enron/Worldcom, 1990s dotcom, 1929, and tulips from Holland, etc. etc. JS

By: Dan Gillmor

Dan Gillmor — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:49:59 +0000

Doug, it sounds as though you were ahead of your peers.

Cory, the Sarasota paper had “several” stories? How did that number compare with the boosterish coverage? (I’m not a bit surprised to hear that the real estate folks were going bonkers.)

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:20:29 +0000

In suburban Boston, local blogs were asking these types of questions in 2005:

http://tinyurl.com/2758er

The Boston Globe, Herald, and the local tabs’ real estate coverage mostly consisted of marketing for realtors (”Home of the week”), etc. There were no investigations, and not even many interviews with ordinary people who were concerned about high prices.

By: Cory

Cory — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:03:28 +0000

Did you, by chance, read any of the coverage in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune as the bubble grew? The paper featured several prominent stories about the risks. Several realtors were convinced the newspaper was conspiring against them to sink the market.

By: Doug Haddix

Doug Haddix — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:05:38 +0000

I thought you might be interested in “Brokered Dreams,” a series of articles that The Columbus Dispatch published in September 2005 about the foreclosure crisis. We’ve published several dozen follow-up stories since then. Our coverage wasn’t perfect, I’m sure, but our readers had plenty of warning about subprime mortgages, aggressive homebuilders and other ingredients in the mortgage meltdown.

Here’s a link: http://dispatch.com/live/contentbe/dispatch/2005/09/21/broker.html

Thanks,
Doug Haddix
Projects Editor
The Columbus Dispatch

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:08:26 +0000

“Dwarfed by comparison” … “extremely infrequent stories” … “occasional quotes” … Strong words. Also entirely subjective. And unquantifiable.

I could say in response, oh I dunno, that the press was “startlingly prescient” … “on the case” … “ahead of the curve.” And you would rightly challenge me to back up those assertions.

So, Dan: Back it up. Right now we have your word, based on your own reading of whatever it is you read, that the press “failed”. If you’re going to damn an industry, damn it in detail.

By: Did newspapers ignore housing bubble? - Lost Remote TV Blog

Did newspapers ignore housing bubble? - Lost Remote TV Blog — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:45:40 +0000

[...] Many newspapers across the country had very little coverage of the housing bubble and fallout as Dan Gillmor points out. A recent E&P piece has editors pointing to a smattering of stories on the now-crisis - but [...]

By: edward

edward — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:05:47 +0000

Not only do I agree with you 100 percent, I had sent an e-mail to Strupp telling him exactly what you say. Here it is:

“That column about newspapers warning about the subpriime crash was absolute drivel.
“I can remember the yards of copy written about new developments and real estate sections filled with puff pieces promoting house buying, with no hint of any risks involved with these investments. For the few stories you cite, what about those that quoted the National Association of Realtors about how this was the right time to buy a house, and that house prices have never declined. Remember how we were told house prices were supposed to be “sticky” and that when there was a downturn, the prices would stick rather than fall precipitously. Where were the investigative pieces about how low-income people were being ripped off by subprime mortgages? Both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal you cite ran endless stories about high prices for New York apartments, with appropriate pictures of the luxury amenities that came with them. In my lifetime, newspapers have missed the S&L excess of the 1990’s, and they dropped the ball on this one, too. And what about the culpability of Congress in this? Where are the investigative pieces of House and Senate banking legislation that opened the door to easy lending, no-document loans and giving mortgages to people with lousy credit reports — including illegal aliens working day work construction jobs? From what I’ve heard on CSpan, Sen. Jon Kyl has reams of information documenting how Congress contributed to the collapse now happening, but no reporters seem interested.”
Strupp responded:
“Thanks for the note, please pass on any articles you cited.”
Well, I don’t have access to newspaper databanks, and newspapers don’t archive their real estate sections, so some of the choicest flackery is no longer available online.