Las Vegas High Rise Blog » Are “Smear Campaigns” and “News Framing” tactics harming the real estate industry?

Are “Smear Campaigns” and “News Framing” tactics harming the real estate industry?

Posted by Luxury Realty Group - May 30th, 2008
Categories: High Rise Condos

News Framing is a strategy used in journalism. It’s the art of filtering news into an angle or frame, a strategy that is meant to guide audiences into perceiving something a certain way. Today, News Framing is most obvious in the United States’ current: real estate market, economy, war, and presidential race. But what the heck does Spiderman have to do with how the media is handling the current Las Vegas real estate market?

In the Spiderman comics and movies, Peter Parker’s publisher is always yelling at him to capture Spiderman doing something negative. Why? Because Peter’s paper, the Daily Bugle, is best known for running smear campaigns against the city’s web-slinging hero. That’s what sells the most papers…tHe ScHocKiNg HeAdLinE.

The old saying in journalism is - “If it doesn’t bleed, it doesn’t lead”. Sensationalize.

While the above example may seem like an exaggeration (after all, it is a comic book), the comparison comes from somewhere.

Several things to think about:

The ever-evolving internet (social media sites, RSS feeds, expert blogs and more) is causing a growing pressure on newspapers, news networks, and journalists.
Readers can go to blogs or other internet mediums to find the information they are looking for with the click of a mouse. Why buy a paper or watch the news?
Doom-and-gloom reporting sells papers.
Since when did you take real estate advice from a journalist? Would you trust them to plan your retirement too?
Would the market be as bad as it is if there were no such things as negative news reporting? Would people be less scared to purchase?
Journalists (freelance or not) have mortgages too. The more sensational the copy, the better guarantee to make headlines and get paid.

Is fact checking a dead exercise by journalists?

Over the past two years, it has been very common for articles full of errors to make it into print in regards to the Las Vegas high-rise condo market. From quoting sources who have no clue on what they’re talking - to listing erroneous facts about hard-contract deposit requirements, there has been a real problem with writers getting their facts wrong.

Just a few examples:

While spending a day with one major news outlet who was doing a doom-and-gloom story about Las Vegas, I asked them if they’d make sure to let readers know that there was only one high-rise condo tower on the Strip, Sky Las Vegas, and that it will continue to be the only high-rise condo tower on the Strip until almost 2010. The writer looked me straight in the eye and said, “We don’t really want to go that direction with this story.”
Recently, Tropicana Entertainment LLC (the company behind the Tropicana Las Vegas Resort & Casino and many other out-of-state properties) filed for bankruptcy. They made it very clear that the bankrupcy was brought on by losing their gaming license in Atlantic City (among other things). What did several writers do? Write articles saying LAS VEGAS STRIP IS DOOMED!
In late 2007, multiple Nevada residential price-per-square-foot records were set when several penthouse properties were sold at The Harmon Hotel, Spa & Residences at MGM MIRAGE CityCenter. Every single news station in Las Vegas was offered to share the exciting announcement on air. Guess what? Not one single station reported the good news.
On local journalist recently reported that buyers would walk from their hard-contract deposits from one certain luxury development in Las Vegas because their hard-contract deposits were only 10 thousand dollars. They claimed that the development’s PR Firm and a local real estate agent told them that. Really? Seems odd, considering everyone knows that the hard-contract deposits were 20 PERCENT at this property, NOT 10 thousand. Turns out, the reporter misunderstood the difference between the initial 10 THOUSAND reserve amount and the 20% hard contract amount. OOOOPS!
How often do you see it being reported that MGM MIRAGE sold over $1.6 billion in real estate at MGM MIRAGE CityCenter in little over a year?

Just think of Peter Parker

Yes the current United States real estate and mortgage industries are challenged. But what would it be like if less errors were made in reporting? What if journalists weren’t so pressured to write doom and gloom? At the end of the day, journalists are just trying to do their job. Just think of what Peter Parker had to do to earn a buck…

And he didn’t even have to compete with blogs written by TRUE experts.

About Aaron Auxier

Aaron Auxier has earned the nickname “Hollywood’s Connection to Vegas” because of his Los Angeles entertainment background and Las Vegas connections. He is responsible for selling some of the most glamorous penthouse and luxury high-rise condominium properties in the history of Las Vegas.

Aaron Auxier can be reached at 702-456-7080 x201

Disclaimer: All information in this post is subject to change without notice. Subject matter is not guaranteed and is often considered time-sensitive.

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All information in this blog is subject to change without notice. Subject matter is not guaranteed and is often considered time-sensitive. See DISCLAIMER.