This is not inspired by Ken "not the meteorologist" Cook, but I did read his post a little earlier, Did The Media Cause This, Fuel This, or Just Report It? That said, I did mention this post in the comments there, because they are related... Great minds think alike... ours do too.
There is a lot of talk in the real estate blogosphere about the news media not reporting any of the good news in real estate. They generally follow this up wit hall of the good statistics they can drum up, and possibly throw in that it is their best year ever, and that buyers have unprecedented choices and negotiating room... etc. Why doesn't the media report THAT?
I'll tell you why...
Nobody cares.
Did you catch that?
Nobody cares!
Don't make me say it again... just skip back a couple of lines. I'll wait...
Ok, here's the deal. In Atlanta, 2,997,750 people went to work today on the highways and did not have an accident. Furthermore, 2200 people had pretty minor fender-benders. Tickets were written, and insurance companies will be contacted. But, the other 50 people weren't so lucky. Some of the accidents were minor, others less minor, but they were "important." Maybe some caused slowdowns on major routes. One of them probably had a medical helicopter in the air. Several more had news choppers swirling around. Those are the ones that made a blip on the news. The media happened to be around, and something happened. In truth, except for the families of those in the accidents... nobody cares. If it didn't slow the ride to work, and it isn't a friend or family member, it isn't important.
WSB didn't send a TV crew and a chopper to cover me successfully picking my son up from his morning daycare class. If they did, would you watch?
It is good news... for my family. Not unexpected or anything, but seeing his smiling face is ALWAYS good news.
If Sheppard Smith or your favorite news anchor went on the air today and said...
"People bought and sold homes today. Despite fears from the continuing fall-out of the Sub-Prime Mortgage Meltdown, the business of real estate goes on. Sales this years have been running at a pace to place it in the top five years of volume sales, and about 85% of last year's pace. Interest rates are good, and unemployment is so low it's disgusting. However, it is what's to be expected. The Bush tax cuts continue to deliver not only record revenue to the government, but a strong economy for everyone else.
In other news, there is no denying that the surge is tremendously successful in Iraq. Insurgent attacks are at their lowest levels since Saddam was deposed, and the the level of violence is at pre-invasion levels.
Finally, in today's stock market wrap up, some stocks were up, others were down. Some people made money, and others... not so much."
... would that compel you to watch? Every single thing that was said is true, but for the most part, none of it is featured news... it's boring.
We don't want boring!
We want OJ storming people's hotel rooms with guns drawn, to steal... I mean get his stuff back. We want to see news choppers circling burning homes and apartments. We want to hear "we lost everything" and be glad it isn't us.
BTW, none of that crap had any real effect on the world.
Heck, we don't even want to know what bills were passed in Washington or Atlanta. We just want fluff.
So, the news is delivering exactly what people are asking for. They want bad news... it's more exciting. They want it to be bad news that doesn't really affect them... that's not exciting, it's terrifying. And it shouldn't be actually important. But, it should be something that the station can send a live truck to so that a reporter can pretend to care while standing in front of something that only has slightly more relevance than the bathroom at the news-station... but not anymore, because the story was three hours ago.
I better stop now, or I won't be able to put the beast back in the cage... Maybe I'll let him out later...
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Sensationalism is what the media says the public wants. Problem, not one has every contacted me and asked me what it is I want? The media is about the same thing most people in the real estate are about, money! If you removed money from the real estate equation, I promise you the ranks would severely drop. You would have to look high and low, far and wide to find anyone to talk real estate.
The media has discovered a secret, people like sensationalism and we as a nation are a sound bite society. The media is skilled in designing headlines that cause folks to wait (and waste) a half-hour waiting for a particular story to air. That is a lot of power! If you inquire in any depth, you will quickly recognize there is very little independent thinks that goes on today.
I was listening to the debate about the BCS Championship games. All the chatter is about a playoff system. “The public wants a playoff!” When was a vote casted that solicited my opinion on that issue or am I not a part of the public?
Britney, Kevin, Michael, Tony & Eva, etc. It seem folks are more concerned about people they don’t know than people in their own families and communities.
Priorities are twisted! Values are completely distorted! The media is just doing what a real estate agent or loan originator is doing, trying to make a dollar out of sixteen cents. So by default your picking of your son won’t create a headline that can be sensationalized to make a public wait 15 minutes to be entertained.
Change our priorities, change our values and your story will reach the air. If the media can’t sell ad space for a story, they will change their format if they want to earn revenue.