The Argument on The Argument of the Tax Credit
Posted on October 30th, 2009 in Deedstreet News | 3 Comments »
Yesterday, Jay Thompson and Matt Stigliano admonished those who have begun spreading the word that the tax credit passed (both excellent reads).
And they are correct to do so. Obviously, the tax credit has not yet passed. And sadly, the only thing the last few days have confirmed is the lack of knowledge the public has on the legislative process. As a history major and political science lover, this it truly disappointing. But there is a bigger issue here that’s being glossed over. We are not dealing with the source of the disinformation.
The editors (and their bosses, and their bosses’ bosses) of the on-line News outlets have shown reckless abandon in choosing headlines for these articles. The titles chosen are picked strictly to drive traffic and often the text within the articles completely contradict the headlines. Is it really Joe Shmoes fault that he sees the headline of an article that basically says the tax credit has passed and spreads the word? Now yes, Joe Shmoe SHOULD read the article (oh, I wish Joe Shmoe would the article). But we SHOULD be holding the editors to a higher standard, no?
Unfortunately, this is not the exception, but the rule on how News is reported today. The News is no longer the issue at hand. It’s the news around the News. The controversy that is created by the misinformation being circulated. That is what drives the industry today. And until we demand just the slightest bit of journalistic integrity, we will continue to be arguing about the argument.
Doug
3 Responses
Doug – You’re pretty dead on with this. It’s true. The one article yesterday that I read had two different titles – the title of the article itself said “maybe” but the browser title said “done deal.” So which is it? It was clear as day that someone was taking advantage of SEO and trying to draw viewers to their blog. The post itself wasn’t very firm either way. But with that simple title change, they were guaranteeing themselves traffic. They were creating the “hype.”
I don’t know what it will take to “fix” journalism. To make matters worse, we’ve all become journalists. We report news before the news does thanks to Twitter, blogging, and instant messages. We can control the news ourselves as has been seen many times over where buzz on the internet (that was false) has worked its way to the mainstream media outlets.
What worries me is that we (as real estate professionals) should hold ourselves to a high standard when it comes to reporting the “news” as it relates to real estate. If I told all my clients that the tax credit was extended, am I doing what I have sworn to do as an agent? Am I helping? Am I being their “local expert?” Am I educating people as I hope to do in every transaction and interaction with the public? Instead, I have created a false sense of hope in them.
What if the tax credit doesn’t get extended? Should those that read the “news” and decided to wait be angry? Should they blame those that told them mis-information? This is money we’re talking about. Most people don’t like bad information when it comes to money.
Hopefully, you and I will see a day when the news returns to reporting the news and not selling advertising.
Matt,
Although I hope for those days again, I don’t think we are going to get there.
Part of the problem today, is that we as consumers of the news demand instantaneous news…all the time. Even though there isn’t news all the time. So journalists run stories that are either misleading or created specifically to stir up controversy.
I think we as a society are heading in direction to prefer having controversial misleading news all the time, rather than correct news some of the time.
Doug
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