The Seattle Times Responds

Posted by on Tuesday, April 4, 2017 · Leave a Comment 

Last week some of us complained to the Seattle Times about their habit of writing stories that only report quarterly rises in rents without any reference to broader patterns of rent increases (the rate of increase is high but the rates have been slowing) without considering why the prices are up and getting a sense of where the trend is going in the future. The Rami Grunbaum was good enough to respond which is much appreciated. I followed up with an email below. I think the Times needs to open a dialogue with the industry and adjust it’s footing on how it reports prices, real estate, and development across it’s various pages. And by the way, if you want to see some well rounded writing about the latest rents check out Capitol Hill Seattle’s coverage of the same data. 

Hi, Roger, Morris and Sean. Thanks for your notes, which arrived when I was out of town; I’m just catching up on things now so I wanted to acknowledge getting these messages.

Looking back at our March 28 story on rents, I think some of the larger issues you allude to are cited. For example:

–          “… cities generally see overall rents slow when they add more housing; it just hasn’t happened here as the demand, fueled by intense job growth, has been so strong.”

–          “…property owners have complained of rising taxes, fees and other costs that they have been passing on to renters.”

Just like a story on what the stock market did in the latest quarter is going to emphasize the numbers, not the broader factors responsible for the underlying economy’s boom or malaise, I think a quarterly or annual numbers story on rents is going to emphasize the latest data; that’s the news. The forces that result in those numbers also deserve coverage but they aren’t going to get top billing in that numbers story.

With all that said, we as a paper are certainly interested in those forces as well; sometimes those are covered by the business desk, sometimes by the metro desk when it’s more to do with governmental policies and politics.

I have no doubt Mike is interested in hearing what property owners have to say on the subject. And I’m sure he’ll keep these contacts on hand for when he’s doing future stories.

Regards,

Rami

Rami Grunbaum
Business Editor
The Seattle Times

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Hello Rami,
I appreciate your thoughtful response.
We recognize that there are a variety of approaches to the news and a story. So a numbers story about quarterly price increases fits together with other stories about policy and other stories about growth. I’d agree that judging a papers coverage just by any one of these isn’t really fair.
However, for me, taking all these things together I do see too little on how the pieces fit together. I’d even question whether price rises quarter to quarter really are news unless there’s a better sense of how that fits into larger trends; see Mike Scotts comments.
We can’t tell you how to run a newspaper anymore than you can tell us how to build or manage housing. But I think we’d all benefit from a more free flowing and honest conversation about stories whether on the real estate page, general news, or other parts of the paper.
The Seattle Times is the only legacy daily we have, and in a time of dubious news we really need deeper insight into what’s happening with housing.
Simply repeating “rents are skyrocketing” actually feeds the narrative it’s reporting about. It’s like calling the Seahawks “losers” on the sports page because they have a losing record without explaining injuries or other factors leading to the losses.
So yes, part of it is reaching out to people in the business at a minimum, but how the stories and headlines are written do feed calls for rent control and tend to reenforce one side of the debate whether that is intended or not.
Roger

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