A Vancouver Sun Editor responds to one controversy, the Financial Post remains silent on another.

Integrity.

The local real estate blogosphere has good reason to question the existence of it in our media the past year or so.

• We've seen stories local real estate agents of Asian descent taken on helicopter rides and portrayed as  eager Chinese buyers,
• we've seen a real estate agent pose as a customer while promoting a groupon-style real estate scheme,
• we've had real estate marketing company employees pose as Asian buyers to create the impression of a buying frenzy for Chinese New Year, and
• we've seen fake pictures of a mansion from a real estate agent's website generate worldwide interest for a house that doesn't exist.

All of these examples did not require a great amount of sleuthing to conclude they were not as they appeared. It has many questioning the integrity of the news media and whether the media has been playing a passive role in some of these manipulations.

This sentiment was recently compounded when a highly misleading "newsvertising" article - which required a certain amount of legwork to determine that it was actually a paid advertising feature rather than real news - came out.

Because of this skeptics now find themselves questioning EVERYTHING presented in the media regarding real estate.

Last week it was the validity of Vancouver Sun photo galleries that profile real estate topics.

If the Sun/Province conglomerate can sell adverting through it's 'focus' section and construct that advertising so that it's dressed up like regular news, is it such a stretch to imagine they are selling access to their photo gallery feature as a promotional tool?

The web editor of the Vancouver Sun is Bethany Lindsay.  Here is her LinkedIn profile:

Last night Ms. Lindsay responded directly to this concern. Here is what she had to say:

I'm the Vancouver Sun web editor responsible for that Pricey Pads gallery, so I thought I should probably chime in here. This was absolutely *not* paid content. Real estate galleries do very well for us online -- people got nuts for them for whatever reason -- and Pricey Pads is an easy source to find outrageous listings. On the day in question, I arrived at work at 5 p.m., caught myself up on the news of the day, then clicked on priceypads.com, where I saw this real estate comparison. It was easy click bait and I couldn't resist doing a gallery. Hope that clears things up a bit.

We thank Ms. Lindsay for addressing the issue.

When advertising is presented in a way that it is easily passed as actual news, it brings the integrity of the media into question.  When example after example becomes commonplace, no one is sure what to believe. In the case of Pricey Pads, they became a victim of that doubt.

That's why addressing any concerns (or rigorously following up on them once identified) is so important.

When those local real estate agents of Asian descent were taken on helicopter rides and portrayed as buyers from China, the farce was revealed here by VREAA and here by Garth Turner. But the public was not told the truth behind what happened at the time.

When a realtor posed as a customer while promoting a groupon-style real estate scheme, the story was covered here and here and on other blogs... but no clarification was forthcoming in the press.

When MAC Marketing was caught lying about the identity of their employees in a TV news story, President Cameron MacNeill promised the press he would investigate what happened and take action.  We're still waiting for the media to detail exactly what he found out.

Those shortcomings in the coverage of these incidents harm the credibility of our media.

Currently we have the case of the recent Financial Post news story titled "Home is where the retirement money is". Has there been a serious breach of journalistic ethics committed here?

For those who are not aware, on March 28th and March 29th we posted that sharp-eyed blogosphere sleuths had noticed that the Financial Post article failed to mention that the couple profiled in the story worked for the very mortgage broker company discussed so prominently in the piece.

With that knowledge, the article appears to be little more than a glorified ad for the mortgage broker.

Further examination revealed that the author of the story, Denise Deveau, is a freelance reporter who apparently works for two communications companies who specialize in obtaining media attention for their clients; BlueSky (BS) Communications and Echo Communications. Up until this week, Deveau appeared on the websites of those two firms as an employee.

Is there not an inherent conflict of interest (or at least the appearance of a conflict of interest) when a member of two communications companies (who specialize in gaining access to media for their clients) writes for the Financial Post?

The Financial Post amended their original article to reflect the employment connection between the profiled couple and the mortgage broker. It's a great first step. But it looks like any link to an apparent 'conflict of interest' is being covered up it gains widespread attention.

Yesterday we told you how BS Communications moved to delete any on-line reference to their working relationship with Deveau. Now it appears the other communications firm, Echo Communications, is doing the same thing.

Here is the Echo Communications "Team" page two days ago as seen in the google cache. Denise Deveau is the second name down:

 Here is Deveau's profile that used to be on that site:

These two references have been deleted from that website.  Now the Echo Communications "Team" page looks like this:

Doesn't it strike you as odd that all online references to Denise Deveau by either of these communications companies has been erased this week from the internet?

Rather then step forward, provide an explanation, and account for what occurred here; all we appear to be getting is an attempt to cover up tracks. Why?

This issue needs to be addressed by the Financial Post.

It is crucial to the integrity of the print media, given the recent examples of real estate industry press manipulation, that this story be addressed and the swirling questions answered.

Was Deveau, a freelance reporter, working on behalf of these communications companies (and by extension, the Vancouver mortgage brokerage company) when she submitted what amounts to a glorified advertisement for Ivis Team RRP to the Financial Post?

If she was working for anyone in a communications PR capacity - and she used her freelance position as a writer with the Financial Post as a lever to obtain media coverage for them - was the Financial Post aware of what she was doing before the article was published?

The 'cleansing' currently taking place to remove any reference of Deveau from these company websites merely strengthens the appearance of a conflict of interest and in the modern world of the internet and social media, ignoring the story only compounds the negative speculation.

If CBC-TV and CTV-TV can respond to questions raised in the MAC Marketing fiasco, if Vancouver Province on-line web editor Erik Rolfsen can respond to the fake mansion story, and if Vancouver Sun on-line web editor Bethany Lindsay can respond to questions about the Sun's photo gallery... then surely the Financial Post can respond when legitimate concerns are raised about an apparent conflict of interest by one of their reporters?

It's important the public know what happened here. We need to know that the 'news' printed in our newspapers isn't simply a conduit for real estate industry advertising.

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Email: village_whisperer@live.ca
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Newsvertising: the issue here is journalistic integrity.

It's been interesting to see some of the reaction to our two recent posts about "Newsvertising" (see here and here).

The issue: paid advertisements dressed up as legitimate news stories, particularly when presented in a way which doesn't clearly inform that what you are reading isn't news.

There are those, like realtor Arnold Shuchat, who understand the importance of what we are saying. From a comment he made to our post on the topic:

Obviously, the real trick these days is finding people with a modicum of integrity. People have a tendency to believe the printed word and to be more ready and willing to accept journalistic reports from a major news source as facts. Well, the newspapers and those who rely on them for their latest market intelligence deserve each other!

One would probably be better served to take a contrarian approach to most newspaper reports dealing with real estate investment. As has been said before, "buy on bad news and sell on good news".

At least when it comes to reporting, the "Blog" has shown that it can weather criticism and using the strength and depth of its readership, can unearth truth to a greater and more objective standard.

Good report Whisperer.... story needs to be told!

Shuchat is absolutely right, this is a story that needs to be told.

Unfortunately there are others who simply don't get it:

Sigh.

The point is that the Vancouver Province/Sun conglomerate has already demonstrated they are willing to take paid advertisements and present them as actual news stories with little or no indication that what you are reading isn't real news.

By doing this, they bring into question the integrity of all the other news stories they publish. The two gallery spots that we focused on yesterday are just examples of the doubt that is raised.

Let's face it, how does a posting comparing the insane real estate in Vancouver with another city in North America end up being profiled in the Vancouver Sun within hours of it being originally posted at Pricey Pads?

To get published in the Vancouver Sun that fast means that the Sun would have had to independently came across the PP article within moments of it being posted, which defies all rational credulity.

Which is why it raises the spectre that the Sun's Gallery feature is probably a paid advertising feature. If it is advertising, the public deserves be told so:

This isn't an issue about Pricey Pads having done something wrong (they haven't, at worst all they have done is bought advertising to promote their site), it's about journalistic integrity.

And when that integrity is brought into doubt, you start to question everything.

Take this Gallery which appeared in yesterday's paper.

From the description:

Architect John Hollifield has taken 20 years to completely rebuild this family home, now listed for $2.68 million. The main floor boasts light open space, with flowing principal and natural light pouring in from the adjacent sunroom. Located in Vancouver's exclusive Point Grey neighbourhood, this home is close to some of the best schools that the city has to offer, as well as the almost limitless amenities of West 10th Avenue and the sandy beaches of Spanish Banks.

From the photo caption:

Architect John Hollifield has taken 20 years to completely rebuild this family home. The main floor boasts light open space, with flowing principal and natural light pouring in from the adjacent sunroom. Located in Vancouver's exclusive Point Grey neighbourhood, this home is close to some of the best schools that the city has to offer, as well as the almost limitless amenities of West 10th Avenue and the unique sandy beaches of Spanish Banks. For more information, visit Sotheby's International Realty Canada.

News story or a real estate ad?

Some might argue that because a well known architect has been labouring for 2 decades to bring this property to market for sale, it's a noteworthy news story. But if you click on the Sotheby's link, you go to actual real estate listing.  There you learn "this home represents the culmination of a full 20 years of progressive refinement."

Progressive refinement?

So basically this guy (who works as an architect) has been doing ongoing improvements to the house he's lived in over the past 20 years and now he's decided to sell it.... and somehow this is news?

It looks like another dressed-up real estate ad to us. 

The Vancouver Sun/Province shouldn't be in a position where people are questioning whether they are looking at actual journalism or if they are looking at an advertisement.

Journalistic integrity is the basic foundation of any news organization. Even Alphabet Arnie understands this.

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Email: village_whisperer@live.ca
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Please read disclaimer at bottom of blog.