There’s a lot of ink getting laid out about the agreement between CREA and the Competition Bureau regarding MLS. The most thoughtful comments related to this are available here in REM and on the website www.remonline.com. There are also comments on our web pages that are important because they come from those in the field. Real estate brokers and sales representatives who deal with the situation first-hand.
The worst reporting on all of this I am so sorry to say is in the mainstream media.
The damage done by the major newspapers as well as television, radio and electronic media to any situation is so bad these days it should make all who stop and think about it weep. It isn’t just this discussion about the real estate industry; it is all events, all stories and all articles about everything.
It is maddening to see the slap dash, bang it out in a hurry and don’t worry about accuracy today because nobody’s going to care tomorrow attitude in so many alleged news providers.
We are losing more and more outlets of accurate information every year. We have been losing them for the last several decades.
I grew up counting on the media for reporting facts and there was a time we would get it. Here in Toronto we had a wonderful newspaper rivalry between the Toronto Telegram and the Toronto Daily Star. They would go to great lengths to get the story. The antics and trickery that reporters went to beat each other to a source or the real facts of a story were legendary. The bottom line was to get it right. That the story had to be accurate was a given. To write up a sensational piece and get it out first was the ultimate goal but it had to be correct. Even with all the tricks and chicanery they never cheated. To be caught out was the worst thing that could happen to any newspaper, radio or television news program.
Sadly that seems to be gone today. We have many news outlets where reporting an item first is now the top priority. Writing an explanation of what an item means is secondary and must be equally fast. Lost by the wayside is truth and accuracy.
Years ago a large news organization would have a team of regular reporters to cover events related to a particular field or beat. Today most reporters must cover several beats. Major newspapers may have one writer cover real estate one day and computer technology the next day. The writer is not an expert on either topic and that is understandable, but to have a writer not know anything about the field he is assigned to is reprehensible. We have that every day in our media outlets.
It is hard to blame the news media because they just don’t have the financial resources to assign a team of reporters to anything. So one reporter or one freelancer is charged with getting a story “fast”.
It comes down to money. It doesn’t come down to accuracy.
Fifty years ago a young girl named Marilyn Bell swam across Lake Ontario. It was an incredible achievement. Before the swim, the Toronto Star cleverly arranged to get her exclusive story and shut out the Telegram. As Ms. Bell came to shore completing her swim, an ambulance pulled up to take her to the hospital. It was a rented ambulance loaded with Telegram reporters. They almost got away with it until someone recognized one of the reporters and exposed the scam.
Today there would never be team covering an event, let alone two teams competing with each other. At most there would be a reporter and a photographer. More often than not the reporter would double as the photographer for the newspaper or take a video for TV as well as report the event.
All of this saves money. Delivering a wide array of accurate news faster and cheaper than anyone else cannot be done with one overworked reporter on each beat.
So it comes down to this: CREA and the Competition Bureau have come to an agreement that does not change the fundamentals of Realtors selling property. The major news media outlets have rolled out stories of life altering, dramatic, mind boggling changes to how people sell their homes. REM and remonline.com have accurate stories about it and some important, thoughtful comments from Realtors working in the field.
Which one do you want to read?
Heino Molls is publisher of REM. Email [email protected].
