The Bend blogosphere is abuzz with the story of a Bulletin reporter who lost his job after complaining the paper was sugar-coating its coverage of the local real estate market.
According to an e-mail that the reporter, David Fisher, sent to Bulletin Human Resources Director Sharlene Crabtree and that has been circulating among the paper’s staff, a story he wrote about the Bend Chamber of Commerce’s annual real estate forecast breakfast on Feb. 25 was edited to take out comments skeptical of an imminent turnaround in the floundering real estate market.
Bend appraiser Dana Bratton told the cheering throng at the Riverhouse Convention Center that the Bend market would start pulling out of the doldrums on April 25.
“You’ve got 60 days to make that great buy, and then they’re onto us, and Bend is going to lead the nation out of this housing recession we’re in,” Fisher’s story quoted Bratton as saying.
Fisher’s original story also included quotes from developer Mike Hollern and others questioning that scenario. But according to Fisher’s e-mail, Business Editor John Stearns edited his copy “in such a way as to remove any facts or opinions that tended to disagree with [Bratton’s] rosy predictions.”
The official line going around The Bulletin newsroom is that Fisher was fired for lying about being sick and taking two days off. Not so, said Fisher in his e-mail: He didn’t claim to be sick, but wanted time to cool down before confronting Stearns about the butchered story and asking to be transferred to a different beat where he could cover the news “without what I perceived to be the editors’ emotional desire to slant coverage of the real estate market.”
In his e-mail Fisher said he told Stearns that the editing of the Feb. 26 story was part of a “pattern of editing that included misleading headlines, sources being banned from my coverage, story ideas getting spiked, and odd pre-story cajoling, all of which seemed designed by the executive editor [John Costa] to generate more favorable coverage of the local real estate market than I have thought was best in the two years I have been assigned to cover it for the paper. I further told [Stearns] that, although I believed that the articles I had written for the paper were as thorough and as accurate as I could make them, the utter hack job that was done on my Feb. 26 story had led me to conclude that the paper was not willing to cover the industry as honestly as it should …”
Fisher expressed his concerns in a meeting with Stearns on Feb. 28. On March 3, Fisher wrote, Stearns told him he had discussed his request to change beats with Costa. The next day Fisher was fired.
Contacted by The EYE, Stearns refused to discuss the reason for Fisher’s departure: “I cannot comment on a personnel matter – I hope you understand that.” But he denied the paper was under pressure from real estate interests to apply a positive spin, noting that the business section has recently published several negative stories. “I find it somewhat crazy to think there’s some kind of link between our coverage and what the real estate industry wants us to do,” he said.
The Feb. 25 real estate breakfast marked the official kickoff of the local real estate and building industry’s “Best Buyer’s Market in 20 Years” campaign, and – as The EYE reported a while back – one strategy in that campaign was to apply “economic influence” (read: threats to pull advertising) to make the media publish “good news” about the market.
Asked about the editing of Fisher’s story about that meeting, Stearns replied: “Again, I’m not going to comment on anything related to Dave Fisher. I’m just going to tell you the notion that we are somehow beholden to the real estate industry is ridiculous.”
Is it ridiculous? The EYE reports; you decide.
This article appears in Mar 6-12, 2008.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
What are we, in effing High School? Get some real news.
Thanks for your comment, Mr. Costa.
To me, this is the local story of the year. The Bulletin has been outed.
Did you guys confirm with either Fisher or The BUlletin that Fisher wrote that stuff? Because it sure sounds like you did: “Fisher’s e-mail…” and “In his e-mail Fisher said…” and so on.
Just curious, as I hadn’t seen it confirmed anywhere else. Looking forward to your answer.
I have seen news reports stating that Bend, Oregon, real estate is the most OVER-valued in the United States and that the Northwest leads the way in overvalues. As much as I respect Mr. Bratton, I don’t agree with his predictions of a bright market in “60 Days”. Let David Fisher run his article un-edited and see what the readers think.
Blazer, we did speak with Dave Fisher who confirmed the authenticity of the letter to HR. We also talked to his former editor John Stearns. You can read his comments in the paper this week when it hits stands tomorrow afternoon. The story will in the Wandering Eye column.
รข I find it somewhat crazy to think thereรข โขs some kind of link between our coverage and what the real estate industry wants us to do.รข ย — Bulletin Business Editor John Stearns.
The old Soviet Union used its mental institutions to lock up political dissidents, on the theory that only an insane person would oppose a society that was perfecting a classless utopia.
Sounds like anyone who criticizes The Bulletin’s editing standards must be “somewhat crazy” because they are, after all, criticizing journalistic perfection.
Costa is happy to remind us of that every week in his Sunday column. So start believing, you miserable proles.
Exactly that. Keeps happening. Good reporters just can’t take that paper. Fisher was one of the best they had. I agree with Bearishly Happy: story of the year. It’s time to hammer that paper – this community needs to understand that it’s being manipulated by an overly aggressive editorial staff that despite Costa’s nauseating columns about “journalistic integrity” cares little about reporting the honest truth. It was bold of the industry to ask everyone to adopt a rosy stance on the real estate outlook. Perhaps politically stupid. Certainly deceptive. Bold but probably also stupid for that paper to fire Fisher as they have. How revealing. I hope it comes back to bit them.
It’s funny though, this doesn’t change my opinion of the Bulletin or the local Real Estate Industry one bit. Fisher deserves a medal though.
Bend is dead,to many homes built to fast. The Portland builders who came here to get richer are to blame, how do you like Bend now that your homes sit with no buyer and you still try to pay your bank payments.
Where did all the flippers go with their greed and lack of work ethics? The rest of us are laughing at you.
Polish, yes I spelled it wrong, go home along with Jess Alway and that Randy Sebastion freak. GO HOME, NOT HERE, BACK TO PORTLAND.
A few years back, following the Southern Bridge — now Bill Healy — debacle, the paper conducted a credibility study with the community. Apparently Costa still can’t find the results of that thing.
I’d like to hear from the Chandlers. Compromising your readers’ right to hear a range of perspectives in the face of that kind of one-sided self interest severely damages the credibility of The Bulletin. Many know this isn’t the first time that’s happened, but thanks to the courage of David Fisher it should be the last.
The David Fisher firing story deserves to get picked up nationally. There is, bar-none, no story affecting more Americans and no story that is more important to be reported “straight,” without corrupt pandering to advertisers.
Gone are the days when The Bulletin was the big fish in its own little pond, and when it could count on reporters’ silence because it was the only place in Bend where they could find work.
Hopefully the Oregon journalism community won’t let The Bulletin intimidate and censor reporters and manipulate the news.
By the most important story I meant the national real estate and mortgage finance meltdown, not David Fisher. But that story can’t be reported honestly if newspapers allow themselves to be tools for real estate industry intimidation of reporters. If Fisher’s account is correct, The Bulletin has cheated its readers and sent a chilling message to its other reporters. The Bulletin should PROTECT the independence and journalistic judgment of reporters like David Fisher.
I have lived in Bend since 1995. I often felt the Bulletin slanted it’s coverage of Bend’s real estate market. One look at the HUGE amount of ads placed by Bend’s realtors would tell you the amount of revenue it generates for The Bulletin. Bend’s over-priced, over-hyped housing market is due for a big correction. Realtors, title companies, and builders have become very rich in Bend’s market and I’m sure they weld a “big Stick” in this town. Gone is the Bend of old, replaced by money, money, and more money. Not to mention bad air quality, traffic jams, and increased crime. The Bulletin needs to quit pandering to special interests and start to report things here in Bend as they really are. Sorry Mr Fishers honesty got him canned by Bend’s “Fish-wrapper”.
Just for shits and giggles, the following is now appearing on journalismjobs.com:
“The Bulletin, a 32,000 circulation daily newspaper in Central Oregon, seeks an experienced business reporter who can tackle everything from development to tourism to high technology and retail sales in this booming and rapidly evolving city. Candidate should have a passion for detail, strong reporting and writing skills, and at least three to five years covering business.”
Yeah, plus the ability and willingness to bend over for the local real estate industry.
The use of the term “booming” is interesting. Maybe The Bully didn’t get the news yet that the boom is busted.
The 32,000 circulation figure also is interesting; I would’ve thought it was more. The circulation was around 20,000 when I went to work there more than 22 years ago, and Bend’s population sure as hell has grown by more than 60% since then — in fact it’s almost quadrupled.
The Bulletin been pandering to the real estate community in Bend for sometime now. We have lived here since 1995. Money from developers and the real estate industry now governs Bend’s newspaper and it’s city planning dept. The Bulletin quit being subjective about Bend’s real estate market almost as long as I’ve lived here. Those big real estate ads mean big bucks!
You guys aren’t going to post and respond to my questions?
HBM writes: “The 32,000 circulation figure also is interesting; I would’ve thought it was more.”
They actually rounded down (a departure from past practices) from ABC’s daily circ. number of 32,369. It’s now over 34k on Sundays. Of course, it first topped 30k on Sundays in the fall 1996 (yes, last decade) audit. A year later began a downward crash that took about eight years to recover from. It’s not the only newspaper on the planet that’s losing market penetration, but the rate drop must be awfully high even by the standards of a post-literate society.
Pressure from professional house-sellers is nothing new; many of us watched Dave Pinkerton suffer quite a lot of blood loss (post Gordon Black but pre-J.C., so the pain was pretty direct) over covering RE honestly. Now the ad department rather than news owns the Saturday RE front, so there’s no disguising the flimflam.
Harry: You mean the question about whether Dave Fisher confirmed that he wrote the e-mail? Yes, he confirmed it.
No. Clearly my second comment didn’t come through or got overlooked. Two points:
1) “editor” above implied that the print version would have comments from Fisher, but it didn’t. It was a reprint of the blog above. Odd. That’s not really a question though, I guess.
2) If Fisher confirmed with you guys that he wrote the e-mail, why on earth would you not mention that in your initial report? Why did we learn that in the comments? Seems like a significant detail to me.
Well…
It sounds like sour grape from the old Bendites that are having trouble with the “New Money in Bend”. Stop your complaining and crawl back in your logging days cabins. Californians are running Bend now and we have more influence (money) than a bunch of wood choppers.
When some one shows up with a little optimism all you can do is bitch and moan, or claim there is a great conspiracy. Go get some antidepressants or move some where else because BEND is not what it used to be!
It’s all about the money. Either you’ve got it or you don’t. Complainers usally don’t…. This paper is guilty of censorship too.
The real estate industry is built on hype. They feel as if the market is industry driven. Between the real estate agents, loan officers and the treasury. What has happened should be know surprise. Overbuilding, flipping, and a over confident view of the market is taking its toll.
If this industry feels it can DRIVE the market -as opposed to BUYERS driving the market – it’s more arrogant than I thought.
“It’s all about the money. Either you’ve got it or you don’t. Complainers usally don’t.”
On the contrary, some of the biggest complainers I’ve ever known are rich people. They complain about having to pay their workers minimum wage, they complain about any kind of government regulation, and of course they complain endlessly about having to pay taxes.
David should check out the Portland Business Journal. They’re looking for a good reporter, and he’s one of the best on the business scene.
On the contrary, some of the biggest complainers I’ve ever known are rich people. – HBM
*
I don’t usually agree with you HBM, but your right, the rich are very much the biggest complainers, and they usually own the press. Behind every paper big or small, there is always a rich man.
Like the guy said above, the Source does its share of censorship. The title of this thread should have been “Pot calls kettle black”, but this is Bend.
Fisher wasn’t that great. He wrote positive spin on the RE bubble all the way up, and for two years on the down cycle. Perhaps the truth be, that he got tired of the same old thing. We’re not going to have much other things to talk about either the next two years or more. Perhaps he’ll move on to Austin, TX where a reporter really can write positive copy.
So lets all just keep blogging, and hope that once and awhile the Source and/or Bulletin print something ( non-censored ) so that we have blogger fodder.
“Like the guy said above, the Source does its share of censorship.”
Bilbo, I would disagree vehemently with the suggestion that the Source has tried to spin stories in favor of the local real estate industry. If we did we wouldn’t be printing posts like the one above or the earlier one about COAR / COBA’s “good news” campaign. The plain fact is that we haven’t covered the Bend real estate bubble-and-bust much at all, one way or the other.
As for the Source practicing “censorship,” I’m not sure what you mean. It’s true that we don’t publish every letter we get or allow every comment to go on-line. But I’d argue that we’re much more open to outside opinions than The Bulletin, which prints only three or four short letters to the editor a day and doesn’t allow on-line comments at all.
Since national news created a herd of lemmings out of a majority of US citizens,it is refreshing to hear Dana Brattan give a warning. By the time that everyone understands that a correction has happened in the market, the best house locations and the best deals will be long gone. Everyone has always hoped for that tremendouse “deal”. Work hard to find it, but remember the main reason we are in a recession is because we were told we are in one. This one is largely consumer driven. Bend (and Oregon) are very desirable places to live. The greedy investors forgot the basics. A lot of the “greatest deals” are houses most of us don’t want. How about we all work on balance?
“the main reason we are in a recession is because we were told we are in one.”
Sure, and maybe if we close our eyes and cross our fingers and click our heels together three times, the recession will go away.
“Bend (and Oregon) are very desirable places to live.”
Let’s look at it objectively: Is Bend really all THAT glorious as a place to live? There are no cultural amenities to speak of and very little in the way of entertainment or recreation unless you’re into the whole outdoor scene. It’s hundreds of miles from the nearest urban center. Economic opportunities are meager, wages are depressed and housing is overpriced. And the climate, if I may speak bluntly, sucks — unless you like eight months of freezing your ass off every year. Bend was a nice small town once, but we managed to screw it up with poorly planned, sprawling growth. So where’s all this “desirability”? I submit that it’s largely the creation of hype and our own wishful thinking.
The Kool-Aid drinkers may now pile on.
“Since national news created a herd of lemmings out of a majority of US citizens,it is refreshing to hear Dana Brattan give a warning. By the time that everyone understands that a correction has happened in the market, the best house locations and the best deals will be long gone”
DO you understand that the credit market has CHANGED, probably forever? Bend is not above or separate from the larger economic world. This is not a media invention; money was loaned on shaky grounds and packaged in dubious instruments and no one is going to get loaned money without excellent credit, a good down payment and documented income.
Income in Bend is lagging, prices are high, and we have been designated as a risky area to loan money. People have to be able to sell their houses from somewhere else, come to Bend and buy when they know that prices are dropping, when the national economy has dropped into recession, with a huge inventory of houses. What part of this –except the amorphous ‘consumer demand’ could possibly be the fault of the media.
Indeed, a responsible media should have been warning us earlier!
Dream on.
We don’t capitalize king, queen, president or pope (unless it precedes the proper name of the person holding the title) so I refuse to capitalize “realtor,” and to hell with what the spell checker says.
Mookie, there was a reason why the Oregon Trail pioneers took one look at Central Oregon and moved on.
Bruce speaks the truth, at least this time.
Every flea-bitten town west of the Rockies – and probably many east – have fashioned themselves as something totally unique and unassailable. People want to live here. It’s different here. We’re different here.
You aren’t. You gotta get pretty deep down into the thick weeds to find any substantial difference between most comparably-sized places between the two coasts, and by the time you get down that deep, the only people that care are the local chamber of commerce and the tourism board. Oh, and realtors too.
And here’s something to chew on. The Source’s template uses the little red underline to call “realtors” a misspelling. “Realtors,” with the capital R, is deemed correct. That’s not the bias of The Source, but it’s a mighty fine indicator of how effective a gang of salesmen can be when they make advancing their own interests a top priority.
Even “popes” does not require a capital P.
Maybe the real estate set is dialed in better than I thought.
Speaking of the Bend climate, I woke up this morning, March 30, nine days into so-called “spring,” to find a temperature of 27 degrees and three inches of snow on the ground.
“Paradise” my ass.
Everyone knows the nations real estate market if not supposed to pick up for at least a couple more years at best.To think a Bend somehow is not in the same boat is insane.Once the average home price hits 100,000 where it should be for a town without an economy of its own then we could see the market pick up.