The Impact of Spin on Australian Real Estate Journalism: a Queensland Study

The Impact of Spin on Australian Real Estate Journalism: A Queensland Study

Angela Farnell Hughes FAIM, PRIA DipBus (Marketing)

Creative Industries Faculty Research Office

A thesis submitted to the Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology for the degree of Master of Arts (Research) 2009

ABSTRACT

Regardless of ‘bear’ or ‘bull’ markets, the great Australian dream remains to own your own home. Central to this dream of home ownership is unflagging interest in the property market, reflected in bulging real estate news sections of newspapers in South East Queensland, the focus area for this thesis research.

While there has been much scholarly research into other areas of public relations spin and its impact on news-gathering processes, there appears to be next to no research on real estate spin, how it is prepared and by whom, and journalism’s attitude to and the managing of the spin. Real estate spin remains an under-researched topic requiring further investigation not only in South East Queensland but Australia-wide given the ‘big bucks’ allotted to the promotion of real estate and the income it generates for news media outlets, particularly newspapers. This thesis examines the influence of public relations practitioners and journalists specialising in real estate spin through interviews, content analysis, and how real estate spin envelopes itself in today’s society.

From content analyses and observations of journalism in the real estate rounds of the two major newspapers in South East Queensland, I found that journalists were using massive quantities of real estate spin supplied by PR practitioners and other associated industry sources. This spin is supplanting investigative newsroom journalism, thus allowing newspapers to operate with minimal staffing levels yet still able to publish large weekly real estate news sections. My research also revealed growing commercialisation of real estate news through increasing outsourcing of journalistic work to a writing bureau, which could jeopardise both the professions of journalism and public relations in the future.

KEYWORDS: Real estate news, journalism, public relations, spin, spin doctor, newspapers, property editors, journalism responsibilities, advertorial, advertising, promotional features, writing bureau.

i TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract i Key Words i Table of Contents ii List of Tables v Statement of Authorship vi Acknowledgments vii

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 Methodology 4 Observation Study 4 Interviews 5 Content Analysis 11 Rationale 13 Thesis Structure 14

CHAPTER 2 WHAT IS SPIN? 17 Tactical Diversion and Information Management 18 Spin Doctors 21 Spin and Other Sources of Real Estate News 25

CHAPTER 3 REAL ESTATE SPIN: SUPPLY, DEMAND AND SYMBIOSIS 27 Literature Review 27 Prevalence of Spin 31 Boom Times for Spin Doctors 34 The Pervasiveness of Real Estate Spin 36 Editor’s Duties and Spin 37 Same Story, Different Newspaper 40

CHAPTER 4

THE POWER AND IMPACT OF SPIN 46 Impact of Spin on Newsgathering Processes 56 Dumbing Down the Media 58 Control and Influence 59 Reliable Sources 60 Strategies for Creating Successful Spin 63 Big Bucks ‘Talk’ 65 Accuracy and Credibility 67 A Case of Trust 69 Avoiding Bad Spin 70

CHAPTER 5

IMPACT OF ECONOMIC CLOUT 73 How To Do Spin Well 75 The Spinners’ Interests 77 Good Spin 80 Bad Spin 83 When the Spin Is Not Working 85 Dancing With Spin 87 Filtering Spin 90 The Advance of Advertorials 91 A Case of Ethics and Profits 97

iii CHAPTER 6

THE SHIFTING SANDS OF REAL ESTATE NEWS 99 Background 99 The Guide 101

CHAPTER 7 Conclusion 107

APPENDICES Appendix 1: Definition of News Values 115 Appendix 2: The Australian Journalists’ Code of Ethics 117 Appendix 3: The ‘Inverted Pyramid’ 119

BIBLIOGRAPHY 121

iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Page Table 1 5 Table 2 6 Table 3 11 Table 4 51 Table 5 53 Table 6 54 Table 7 102

Figure 1 120 Figure 2 120

v STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP

The work contained in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma at any other higher educational institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, this thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made.

Signature

Date

vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

When I ventured into the mysterious world of academia, I had no idea where the journey would take me. Oh but what a wonderful journey it has been – a journey not made possible without the support of so many during good and bad times. A ‘mature’ student who had never ventured into a university lecture room let alone be confronted with a ‘new’ language, I quickly found myself immersed in another world where there are no boundaries except your own.

Despite the inevitable hiccups along the way, the journey into the realms of research has whetted an appetite for more and I conclude this research with an understanding of how little I know and how much more I want to know. My road to research really has only just begun and this thesis is the beginning.

This journey would not have been possible without acknowledging those who have been part of my journey beginning with QUT who accepted this ‘novice’ and then allowed my supervisor Dr Angela Romano to guide me so professionally and caringly along the way. Her understanding, support, patience and gentle suggestions assisted me through my darkest hours of facing cancer and coming out the other side and for that I will be forever grateful. I also thank Professor Alan Knight for his ‘down-to-earth’ approach and understanding in the early phases of my research and the input of others. It would be remiss of me also not to thank the QUT Creative Industries Faculty in general for their professional support and ‘how can we help’ attitude.

If there is one aspect of this journey which I would implore others to consider it is be adopt a positive attitude. Age, health and other distractions have nothing to do with learning; it all sits in the mind with a focus and a will simply to do it. The support of my dear family and friends has been exceptional every step along the way and for that there are no other words than simply to say, Thank You.

vii

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This thesis researches the pervasiveness, nature and impact of public relations spin in the mass media’s reporting of real estate and property news in South East Queensland, how spin is generated and by whom, and how spin is disseminated by property editors in newsrooms. This thesis will examine the growth of spin in the real estate and property sector, how spin is often disguised as primary news stories or simply printed verbatim by newspapers, and what impact this is having on journalism, public relations (PR) practitioners and the public.

There is almost a complete lack of scholarly or professional analysis of the activities of property and real estate journalists, both in Australia and elsewhere. This topic is of enormous significance, because the real estate and property sections of newspapers provide massive profits for newspapers, helping to subsidise the activities of journalists in almost all other sections of newspapers. The real estate and property sections are significant to readers, many of whom may be making, or already may have made, the largest single financial decision of their lives when deciding about whether and how to invest in property, or evaluating whether their investment has been a sound one.

Although many of the readers are drawn to the real estate and property sections of newspapers for the information value of advertising, it is important to understand the nature of the stories purporting to provide current news and other forms of information about the market. Is the information contained within these stories reliable and factual, or simply promotional ‘puffery’ containing very little news substance?

A definition of spin and study of its nature will be presented in Chapter 2. This will lead to an examination of the accuracy and ethics of real estate spin created by public relations practitioners or other sources outside the newsroom. Examples of the different styles of real estate spin will be given as a quantitative study as to the amount of spin flooding today’s real estate

newsrooms, during a period in which South East Queensland’s property market experiences one of its most buoyant periods in history. This thesis will discuss the changes in newsgathering processes within the real estate newsrooms and the impact this is having on journalism and newsroom staffing levels due to the growth in the size of newspapers’ property news sections, and the consequent dependence of journalists on obtaining newsworthy property stories from external sources.

In this thesis, spin is differentiated between ordinary public relations and media relations, promotions or advertorials for the degree of manipulation of journalism. The thesis will show how the influence of public relations on real estate journalism can be defined as spin rather than simply as media relations. This is due in a small part because of the sophistication of strategies by public relations practitioners, but mainly due to the prevalence and impact of public relations within newspapers’ real estate and property departments.

The term spin is most commonly used in politics. Although this thesis does not directly deal with issues relating to issues of government, the bureaucracy or governance, it does address important issues of politics. Formal definitions of ‘politics’ have long recognised that politics occurs outside the formal institutions of government, in all socio-economic interactions that significantly shape how citizens and societies make decisions and organize their social relationships. The Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, for example, offers the following definitions of politics: (1) ‘the art of adjusting and ordering relations between individuals and groups in a political community’; (2) ‘competition between competing interest groups or individuals for power and leadership’; and (3) ‘the total complex of interacting and usually conflicting relations between men living in society’ (Webster 1964, p. 1755). Due to the size and significance of the real estate industry in Australia’s economy and the individual lives of most Australians, forces that try to shape the market and journalists’ coverage of it can be considered highly political.

Following the main research question that is discussed above, this thesis also will ask the secondary question as to whether there is a genuine need for newspapers to rely on PR sources to supply their employed real estate and property journalists with a flow of story suggestions in the form of spin. Is there a requirement for editors to encourage investigative reporting on the real estate and property market to maintain objectivity and to give readers unbiased information that does not stem from commercially driven promotion?

The newsworthiness of spin generated by PR and other sources also will be examined along with the usage of supplied information and if it is being accepted in newspapers simply to offset an overload of real estate advertising. This thesis will discuss the increased newspaper profitability through what appears to be a reliance on using outsourced stories, what role public relations practitioners specialising in real estate and property publicity play in providing an editorial-style component to newspaper real estate pages, and how readers could possibly view this supplied editorial (news and feature- style) content.

Most of the spin that reaches the property and real estate sections of newspapers comes in the form of media releases and alerts. For the purpose of this thesis, I identify that the difference between a media release and a media alert lies in the way content is presented. A media release usually is a story written in the inverted pyramid style1 containing as many facts as possible in a sequence of sentences and paragraphs often accompanied by a photograph. A media alert usually is written as one or two brief paragraphs, or in bullet-form style, stating basic facts only such as event, time, place and contact details as a ‘hook’ to encourage the journalist to follow up the brief outline of information and obtain more facts upon which to build the story. As the real estate editors are ultimately responsible for deciding whether or not to use PR-generated content or other spin that is sent to their newspapers, it is important to understand how they view, use and discard the spin that arrives at their news desk each day.

1 See Appendix 3

Methodology

In undertaking this research, it was necessary to adopt a triangulation of methodologies. The research required (i) an observation study in two Queensland daily newspaper newsrooms, (ii) a content analysis and a quantitative study of published real estate news, and (iii) interviews with journalists and editors, public relations practitioners, corporate media practitioners, in-house real estate writers with little or no journalism qualifications and external contributors of real estate spin to newsrooms. These methods allowed a study of the prevalence of spin and its impact on real estate and property reporters’ stories. It also enabled a study of the broader context of editorial decisions about how story ideas are selected, which sources would be used, which facts would be checked and how the story’s style and content is shaped in the newspapers’ real estate and property sections.

(1) The Observation Study

An observation study was undertaken in the real estate newsrooms of The Courier-Mail in Brisbane and the Gold Coast Bulletin on the Gold Coast for six working days in total. My observation at The Courier-Mail involved four days on-site over one week in the real estate newsroom and consulting with the property editor and her two journalism staff. Another two days in total of similar observations and discussions were undertaken at the Gold Coast Bulletin with the property editor and his staff of journalists although these observations were spread over three weeks due to staff availability and my previous extensive knowledge as a journalist working in this department of the newspaper.

The reasoning behind selecting these two newspapers was dictated by their wide circulation (The Courier-Mail, a state-wide publication) and the copious amount of space devoted to real estate news in the state’s largest regional daily operating in a thriving real estate market (the Gold Coast Bulletin). Both newspapers have editorial departments comprising reporters and editors,

which operate independently from their advertising departments, and the newspapers, in turn, operate independently from each other, even though a division of News Limited, Queensland Newspapers, owns both newspapers. Both newspapers employ staff specifically designated to gather real estate news for each publication. These news gathering processes will be discussed later in this thesis.

I believed the four and two working days’ observation undertaken respectively at both newspapers’ real estate sections was adequate timing to obtain an overall view as to how these departments operate today. I had previously worked within the Gold Coast Bulletin’s real estate and features departments for in excess of 10 years until 1994. I also was familiar with the workings of The Courier-Mail’s newsroom sections through earlier employment at the newspaper as well as employment with other metropolitan daily newspapers including the Sydney Morning Herald.

These six days of observation research as a Master’s student are supplemented at various points throughout this thesis by observations that I have made from more than two decades as a newspaper real estate journalist and a specialist consultant providing both public relations services to the real estate industry and freelance writer–editor for organisations seeking real estate features and supplements.

(2) Interviews

I conducted a total of eight in-depth interviews during my research. I obtained Low Risk Ethical Clearance from my university’s Human Research Ethics Committee to undertake these interviews. These in-depth interviews were with the following people: Table 1: Interviewees with Significant Positions in Real Estate Journalism DATE PERSON ORGANISATION POSITION

20-23/8 Michele Hele Courier-Mail Property Editor 2007

25-26/4/ Ross Thompson Courier-Mail Property Writer 2007 25/1/2008- Martin Rogers Gold Coast Bulletin Real Estate Editor 8/2/2008 9/7/2008 Judy Dean Dean Publications Principal 11/7/2008 Steve Hunt Media Hunt Principal 28/8/2008 Kathy Rowland General Manager MacDermott Communications Corporate Communications 22-23/2/ Nicola McDougall Real Estate Institute Media Manager 2008 of Queensland (REIQ) 17/9/2008 Andrew Morse Action Construction Director 21/11/2008 and M-Squared 8/12/2008 Designer Homes

I conducted further minor interviews and contacts via phone and Internet with the following people to help expand the research topic: Table 2: Interviewees with Less Significant or Indirect Involvement in Real Estate Journalism, Public Relations and Industry DATE PERSON ORGANISATION POSITION 16/8/2008 Lloyd Grosse Public Relations National Institute of Australia Information (PRIA) Officer 21/5/2008 Michael Matusik Matusik Property Director Insights 16/8/2008 Christopher Warren Media, Entertainment, Federal Secretary Arts Alliance (MEAA) 23/8/2007 Vanessa de Groot The Courier-Mail Property Writer 23/8/2007 Torney Jensen The Courier-Mail Property Writer 22/12/2009 Stephen Thompson Gold Coast Bulletin Advertising Manager

I chose to interview the real estate editors at both newspapers first to obtain their views before approaching journalists and other media personnel working within the newspaper’s advertising features departments, PR personnel and other industry suppliers of real estate media releases and media alerts. Journalists writing or gathering real estate news within a pure editorial context are employed full time by the editorial departments of both newspapers and staffing levels vary according to the quantity of real estate news printed on a weekly basis.

The size of the real estate editorial newsrooms staffed by journalists in The Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin is relatively small compared to other editorial departments within both newspapers such as sports, motoring, finance, general news and lifestyle. Separate departments attached to advertising sections within both newspapers have much higher staffing levels with a mix of journalists, freelance writers and other staff. In both newspapers, these departments are located in another area of the newspapers’ building so there is a definite delineation of workspaces.2

At The Courier-Mail, interviews were conducted over a period of four days with the Property Editor, Michele Hele, and her staff of two journalists, Vanessa de Groot and Torney Jensen, whose duties were to prepare the weekly Friday editorial for the property section, Prime Site. This section of The Courier-Mail comprises approximately 15 pages containing stories that appeared to be unrelated to any paid advertising content in the newspaper. Hele and her staff are journalists who had previous experience in working for general news in regional and metropolitan newspapers.

Interviews at The Courier-Mail also were conducted over two days with Ross Thompson with input from Jim Hutchinson and other journalists and writers

2 This observation arises from personal observation at both newspapers and from having worked as a journalist and editor at the Gold Coast Bulletin and, as a public relations practitioner, contracted to write real estate news for specific real estate news features and supplements.

attached to the advertising department. They were responsible for preparing content for the newspaper’s Saturday’s advertising-driven Home and realestate.com.au sections. The Home and realestate.com.au sections combined had a larger number of pages compared to the Friday’s Prime Site real estate editorial section edited by Hele.

The Home section varied from seven to 10 pages and contained mostly editorial-style stories which supported advertising content while the 28 to 40 realestate.com.au pages containing extensive real estate advertising was interspersed with sourced real estate stories unrelated to the advertising although the content blended with advertising offering reader interest.

Similar interviews were held in-house for shorter periods over two weeks at the Gold Coast Bulletin with the Real Estate editor Martin Rogers, who has subsequently retired. At the time of interview, Rogers headed a team of four permanent real estate journalists, responsible for preparing the editorial news for the large real estate section in Saturday’s Gold Coast Bulletin as well as mid-week real estate sections for the newspaper group’s two free community Sun newspapers.

The total number of editorial real estate pages prepared weekly by Rogers and his team ranged from 30 to 45 pages depending on advertising content. Rogers’s real estate team comprised senior and junior journalists who had experience in other areas of the newsroom as well as sub-editing skills. Having previously worked in this department as a reporter and editor for in excess of 10 years, I did not feel it was necessary to spend more than one day observing how the department operates.

Further interviews were held with Judy Dean, a former journalist now operating her own public relations company, Dean Publications, which is contracted to write real estate copy to complement advertising in the Gold Coast Bulletin. Dean has independent offices outside the newspaper and employs a staff of five young journalists, mostly university qualified or studying journalism with no previous background in editorial newsrooms. Dean and her

staff are responsible for providing feature-style style stories known as advertorials (a portmanteau for advertisement and editorial) for approximately 40 pages per week to accompany sold advertising space with the objective to give advertisers a value-added incentive to advertise in the newspaper’s real estate and other sections.

The role of Dean’s services will be explored in greater detail later in this thesis when examining the new trend emerging of outsourcing to bureau writers. This trend could significantly impact on editorial newsrooms, newspaper profitability, the future role of journalists and growth of spin specifically related to real estate. This interview primarily was undertaken by telephone as I was totally familiar with Dean’s operation. I had previously spent several years working full time with other journalists in the Gold Coast Bulletin’s advertising features department and laying the groundwork for what Dean offers today.

Further interviews were held with Jim Hutchinson, The Courier-Mail’s realestate.com and Home editor of the Saturday liftout section of this paper, as well as Ross Thompson, a journalist who wrote for the same section but has since moved into the newspaper’s sports section. The content of these two sections of Saturday’s Courier-Mail adopts a lifestyle format and also includes statistical data, not dissimilar to the Gold Coast Bulletin but of far lesser quantity.

To counter-balance in-house newspaper observations and interviews and gain a wider perspective of real estate spin, further interviews were conducted with PR practitioners in Brisbane and the Gold Coast whose specialist areas are real estate. This included former Gold Coast Bulletin senior journalist Steve Hunt, the principal of Media Hunt; and former property writer for the Australian Financial Review, Kathy MacDermott, now general manager of corporate communication for Rowland Communications in Brisbane. Due to the time restraints of both Hunt and MacDermott, interviews were conducted by telephone as I had prior knowledge of their operation as a journalist moving into the public relations area.

To give an industry perspective, other interviews were held with the media manager of the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) Nicola McDougall, a former print media journalist who has made the switch to corporate communications. This interview was held over two days at REIQ headquarters in Brisbane and involved discussing and observing how McDougall prepares and presents her media releases and uses the resources of the REIQ’s in- house property research analyst to ‘feed’ statistical data to various newsrooms throughout Queensland.

Apart from drawing on my own experience as a senior journalist with extensive newsroom experience in print and magazines, as well as a public relations practitioner, I felt it was important to seek the views of an independent property writer and analyst, Michael Matusik. He is the author of the Matusik Report, which is widely used as a reference within the media as a credible source for gathering and developing real estate news stories. A series of short interviews were held by telephone as well a meeting with Matusik after he spoke about the property market at a business breakfast on the Gold Coast in 2008.

Further into the research I also interviewed a builder, Andrew Morse, who is in the process of establishing a new home building company, M-squared Designer Homes, in South East Queensland. This was to analyse what format of editorial he felt were best suited to his objectives. As this builder is also a client of my communications company, I have had ongoing interviews with Morse and was involved in developing branding and communication strategies to maximise use of available advertorial space at his request in conjunction with his advertising program on the Gold Coast and in Ipswich. The ethical clearance application to do this research ensured that I devised an information/consent process that was completely transparent in my relationship with Morse and allowed him complete freedom in his choice to participate in the research.

(3) Content Analysis

As shown in Table 3, I conducted a content analysis between The Courier- Mail and Gold Coast Bulletin on a day-by-day basis and weekend-by- weekend basis in March and April 2007 including the bumper-size Easter editions of both newspapers. A further day-by-day content analysis of both newspapers also was conducted during two weeks in August 2007 as well as a two weekend-by-weekend content analysis in September 2007. I felt it was necessary to conduct the August and September analyses to ascertain whether there had been any substantial change from the earlier content analyses.

Further content analysis also was conducted between four editions of the annual Gold Coast Bulletin’s Property and Suburb Guide from 2005 to 2008 (see Chapter 6). I felt it was important to this research to include an extensive content analysis of the annual Gold Coast Bulletin’s Property and Suburb Guide as this major publication had evolved from containing journalism- researched content 3 to a glossy liftout absorbed into the newspaper’s advertising department with editorial content changed to spin sourced from PR practitioners and other industry groups.

Table 3: Shows periods of content analysis in 2007 between The Courier-Mail (TCM) and Gold Coast Bulletin (GCB) Newspaper TCM: weekday TCM: GCB: GCB: weekend weekday weekend Dates March 26-31, March 10-31 March 26-31 March 10-31 April 7-21 April 7-21 August 4-12 Sept. 15-16 August 4-12 Sept. 15-16 Sept. 22-23 Sept. 2-23

During this observation research phase and from less formal on-going content analysis of reading the real estate sections and advertising promotional

3 This observation arises from personally being involved in writing and researching real estate stories for the publication.

features of both newspapers on a daily basis, I found that the Gold Coast Bulletin produces a much higher proportion of real estate news. This is presented in various formats mostly associated with, or complementing, Saturday advertising. By contrast, there is minimal general real estate news generated during weekdays from within the editorial newsroom. The Gold Coast Bulletin also produces real estate editorial that is more lifestyle- orientated than The Courier-Mail.

The stories in the Gold Coast Bulletin are written in a descriptive style with extensive use of flowery adjectives accompanied by eye-catching large photographs of focal points of houses to grab the reader’s attention. In many ways, the content of these editorial pages had a ‘wish list’ appeal to garner reader market interest in houses and other properties that were advertised for sale and were presented and written as a pleasing ‘tempter’ for buyers.

In contrast, The Courier-Mail generates a higher proportion of straight-to-the- fact real estate news during the week from within its editorial department when compared to the Gold Coast Bulletin’s mid-week content. While the Gold Coast Bulletin produces a higher percentage of real estate stories primarily, often inter-related with advertising content, in its Saturday editions, The Courier-Mail had a limited amount of advertising-related real estate news on Saturday.

The Courier-Mail’s editorial content was far more moderate and succinct and dealt more directly with straight facts from a business perspective with minimal photography. The variables of this content analysis will be discussed further in this thesis but my aim was to examine the different approaches adopted by journalists at both newspapers and how they presented real estate news to their readers in specific circulation areas.

Rationale

The quantitative research was undertaken in 2007 and to a lesser degree in 2008, during a time when the property market in Queensland experienced

exponential growth. Observations were made between the real estate editorial content of The Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin on specific days and weeks to develop an overall picture for this research project. During qualitative and quantitative research, it became obvious that both newspapers adhered to thematic real estate editorial and advertising formulae to achieve reader newsworthiness and currency while maintaining revenue.

To gain a ‘big picture’ view, it was necessary to understand the workings of editorial and advertising departments of both newspapers. I interviewed and observed real estate editors and journalists working in their editorial and advertising departments as well as feature writers and public relations practitioners attached to advertising departments or working independently to the newspapers. These interviews and in-house observations research were conducted over several days from 2007 to 2008 although in some instances, interview and observation times were cut short because of other factors such as staff availability.

This in itself has been an interesting process as I have been able to gauge how spin is being encouraged by the newspapers and accepted, although it is beyond the scope of this thesis to determine how the public views this spin and whether or not readers are simply buying the newspapers for advertising and classified real estate content. However, I also have been able to examine how real estate spin prepared by myself has been disseminated or altered within a newspaper advertorial features department. From this perspective I was able to gauge how effective or ineffective spin is perceived to have news value4 for readers and how advertising newspaper departments encourage advertorial usage to maintain profitability.

I undertook a comparative content analysis of four editions of the annual Gold Coast Bulletin Property and Suburb Guide. The reason for this was my complete knowledge of the Guide from when my company was contracted to research and source the entire editorial content from 1995 until 2006. I then

4 For a definition of News Values see Appendix 1.

compared this with the 2007 and 2008 editions of the Guide, which were produced in-house in conjunction with the Gold Coast Bulletin’s advertising department, and was almost totally reliant on real estate spin from outsourced material provided by PR companies and industry sources or obtained via Dean’s writing bureau. From this analysis, I was able to assess editorial credibility, how spin is dealt with in different situations and why spin has become an attractive alternative in achieving newspaper profitability.

Among the characteristics and variables I was researching was the various methodologies used to achieve the desired outcome. This included the style of writing, the ‘connection’ between the ‘spinner’ and the newsroom, new approaches in presenting spin and whether these were successful, and any other variables between the way spin was presented in two entirely different newsrooms.

Thesis Structure

Chapter 1 examines the goals of this thesis which are to determine what effect spin prepared from sources such as PR practitioners and industry media consultants outside newspaper newsrooms is having on real estate reporting and journalism. Central to this research is the examination and analysis of the real estate news content in two of South East Queensland’s major newspapers both of which contain a high proportion of real estate news. Chapter 1 also explains the rationale of this research and its significance given the dearth of academic or industry analysis of this socially and economically significant area of newspaper activity and how real estate spin is shaping newspaper newsgathering methods.

Chapter 2 provides a definition of spin and explores the phenomenon of spin in the news media more broadly, examines who are the spin doctors and the role their spin plays in shaping news. This chapter also examines growth of the spin industry and the prevalence of spin in areas of politics, government, business and real estate. Furthermore it explores the growing reliability of real estate newspaper newsrooms in their acceptance of spin and how editors

deem its newsworthiness and how they deal with the spin prior to publication. The rest of the thesis discussed the literature relevant to media spin and real estate journalism on a chapter-by-chapter basis. It does this to allow the reader to more clearly compare the issues and conditions affecting news journalism more broadly against the specific issues and conditions affecting real estate journalism.

Chapter 3 looks at the increasing size of newspaper publications and a decrease in journalism staffing levels leading to an increase in the demand for spin sourced from different commercial, political and government sectors outside the newsroom. This chapter also examines the increase in the size of newspaper real estate sections and special promotional features evolving from within newspaper advertising departments. In tune with this increase has been an increase in the demand from newsrooms for PR property spin and the resulting effect on real estate journalists staffing levels.

Chapter 4 discusses the power and impact of spin on journalism in general as well as its impact on property-real estate journalism. Spin’s impact on journalists’ newsgathering process also is discussed in this chapter as well as the impact on who controls the facts – journalists or spin doctors? Spin’s impact on the quality of journalism and story content also is examined as well the economic clout of those who can afford to pay for PR services and those who do not have the budgets to employ these service and the probability of stories of greater news value going unnoticed.5 The social ramifications of spin and its negative effects on a democracy also are considered.

Chapter 5 examines how spin has become a useful ‘tool’ for PR as a conduit to clients and how good stories can evolve from PR spin. Also discussed is the PR practitioners’ viewpoint on the usefulness of spin in today’s rapidly changing media.

5 For a definition of News Values see Appendix 1.

Chapter 6 is a combined content analysis and observations of how spin has influenced changes in two newsroom practices. It describes how advertising departments have found a suitable solution to meeting advertisers’ needs through commissioning writing services on a commercial basis to maintain profitability.

Chapter 7 provides the conclusions to this research. It also summarises projected outcomes for journalism, PR practitioners and newspaper content if it becomes linked more to commercial agendas in the future.

CHAPTER 2 WHAT IS SPIN?

Firstly, what is real estate spin or, for that matter, spin more generally within the wider perspective of news reporting? Interpreting spin can be as difficult as interpreting Einstein’s theory of relativity. Franklin (2005, p. 250) says: ‘Spin has come to imply the particular angle, meaning or interpretation assigned by the media to a political event by a spin doctor’ while a British Labour government information officer, Romola Christopherson (Franklin et al 2005, p.250) defines spin strategy as ‘Labour’s three ‘Rs – rhetoric, repetition and rebuttal’.

Christopherson says: Rhetoric – getting the message and encapsulating the message in a marketing slogan – New Labour, New Britain, People’s Princess – all those soundbites, getting that rhetoric absolutely clear and right and accessible…. Repetition, repetition repetition. When you’re bored with repetition, it probably means that people are beginning to pick it up…. Rebuttal, which is don’t let any attack on you go without walloping back at it. (Control Freaks, Channel 5, 28 September 2002)

Spin can thus been seen quite simply a message prepared specifically to gain media publicity for a product, service or corporate brand. While spin can often be an obvious attempt to gain free promotion for a product, service or corporate brand, there also can be instances of spin information that contains elements of useful information for discourse and highlight genuine issues in the public interest outside pure promotion. With the latter, this sets spin outside the advertising arena and puts it firmly in the public sphere for further investigation or revelation without any agenda setting.

For the most part, spin is the product of a paid service generated by a public relations practitioner or, in the case of government and some corporate sectors, from in-house publicists, communicators or media advisors often referred to informally as spin doctors. In these cases feeding selective spin to

the mass media can be the medium for disguising negative news by trying to present a positive angle and ‘burying’ or hiding what the spin doctors believe is not in the public interest to know.

Grattan (p. 34) says ‘spin is equally about defining and getting out the message – whether it’s how good your team is or how bad the other area – and keeping the politicians, as the jargon goes, on message’. Grattan further says spin is all about inducing and influencing the media to react to the ‘message’, and then viewing how the public perceive the resulting communications.

My working definition of spin is the filtering of specific information in a controlled manner and the presentation of that information to the public via the news media. By filtering I mean the careful crafting and presenting of specific information in such a way that it appears newsworthy in content and has currency (timeliness) but may not include all aspects of information, especially those of a negative nature. In other words, a story is presented as a media release or a media alert on a specific subject with the focus being to generate positive and specific publicity.

Tactical Diversion and Information Management

Sometimes, although not always, the author of a media release, media alert or other form of spin is aiming to create a diversionary tactic away from any negative aspects of a topic to deflect further investigation by the journalist. In the case of a media release, someone outside the newsroom writes the information in newsroom or journalistic style. This is usually a public relations practitioner representing the interests of a client or a media advisor whose role is to present a corporate or government response or media strategy developed beforehand through third party consultation. To achieve this journalistic style in preparing the media release, the writer in most instances is a former journalist or has other experiences in newsrooms or journalism.

It is important to note that although many people use the term spin as a pejorative, to suggest a distortion of information for corrupted or selfish goals, this is not a meaning I mean to convey in this thesis. I see spin as the selection of an angle and information that aligns with and aims to publicise or promote a particular viewpoint. This viewpoint is not necessarily one that achieves self-aggrandising goals or serves narrow interests.

Apart from a focus on improving the imagery of a company or promote a brand through a higher media profile, spin also is a methodology adopted by many PR practitioners and government or political media units to target audiences in the hope of achieving attitudinal change or improve community relationships. Ultimately, those weaving the spin need to feel confident they will achieve success regardless of how it is presented.

In presenting spin as a media release, the intention of the so-called spin doctor is to see the story printed in its entirety or edited as seen fit by the newsroom journalist or editor without further investigation and without changing the release’s theme. In the case of a media alert which advises journalists that a media event or press conference will be held, there is an increased possibility that attending journalists will not be so easily influenced to accept the desired outcome sought by the spin doctor.

Media events and press conferences stemming from media alerts usually provide an open forum for journalists to ask questions outside the spin theme, allowing them to develop an investigative path which may not have been included in the initial media alert. Political press conferences provide an excellent example of this where a journalist may deviate from the general theme that was initiated in the media alert and may choose to follow a very different path of questioning.

Ward (2003, p. 3) concurs with Deacon and Golding (1994, p. 45) that:

Election campaigns may be an ideal opportunity to study political spin but spin doctors continue to ply their trade long after the last ballots are

cast. Governments nowadays well understand the importance of ‘an effective public relations strategy in securing public acceptance of the policy’ and will concentrate their resources to this end.

This is a view supported by Bob Franklin (1994, p.111) who – drawing from observations about the British context, but making comments that are intended to apply to Western journalism more generally – says there has been a ‘new found enthusiasm for using advertising, marketing and public relations campaigns to sell policies to the public’. This style of packaging sits squarely within the strong emergence of specialist media minders or spinners to handle media alerts, media events, manage agendas and monitor outcomes.

In Beyond Spin, Kounalakis, Banks and Daus offer a different view of spin by describing it as ‘the blending of journalistic principles with organisational communications strategies’ when they examined the concept of spin as strategic corporate journalism and a means of ensuring specific political agendas are controlled by corporate discipline (1999, xiii). While their research focuses on the corporate sector and societal journalism within corporations, it reveals that those interviewed within the corporate sector are divided into three clear groups in terms of how the public interprets the term ‘corporate journalism’. Those groups are:

The ‘adverse impact sceptics’ who equate the word journalism with the populist trend towards sensationalism in American journalism. These people interpret corporate journalism as manipulative writing, or corporatespeak. Then we uncovered the ‘what’s the big deal crowd’, who confine journalism merely as the company magazine or the company newsletter. Finally, the ‘ah-ha’ folks (who often come form a journalism or communications background fully apprehend the journalistic practices and principles behind societal journalism and understand the implications of journalism in the corporate world. (1999, xvi)

Kounalakis et al’s first group thus envisages corporate communications, or public relations/communications units within corporations and large institutions, to be an emerging force that manipulates journalists. In effect their perspective matches my interpretation of filtering specific information in a controlled manner and then presenting it to the public. To use a real estate publicity example, an expert in spin would endeavour to find a positive news angle to a story during a period when the property market may be showing signs of distress. In other words, the spinner would ‘talk up’ the market rather than reveal its true state of affairs. This kind of spin is most likely when property markets are showing instability during periods of high interest rates, unaffordable housing, housing shortage crises and economic downturns.

Spin Doctors

So what is a spin doctor? The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2005, p. 450) contains two definitions for the word ‘doctor’. The first is the noun for doctor, ‘a person trained in medical science’ and the second, a verb, ‘to change in order to trick’. When you combine this with the dictionary’s definition of spin ‘to turn around quickly’, the term spin doctor seems to have evolved from combining the literal meanings of all three definitions from two words with the emphasis shifting from a medical occupation to that of working with words.

Another definition of spin offers a variance to the above as ‘to produce, fabricate, or evolve in a manner suggestive of spinning thread: to spin a tale of sailing ships and bygone days’ (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/spin) thus the analogy could be that a ‘spinner’ is someone who can fabricate something. While these interpretations may seem somewhat broad in their application, there does seem to be a distinct correlation between all these definitions and the evolution of the spin doctor. As Cyprus (2009) says:

The term spin doctor became a common addition to our language in the 1980s. Its exact origin is uncertain, but spin doctor is often used to

describe public relations experts as well as political or corporate representatives whose job it is to put a 'positive spin' on events or situations. The verb spin doctoring is also commonly used to describe the work of a spin doctor. (Cyprus, 2009, NP)

While Cyprus’ description of a spin doctor is directed primarily at public relations experts as well as political or corporate relations experts whose job is to project good spin to the public via the media, this thesis will show that spin doctoring has grown at an exponential rate in the past two decades. It will show there has been an increase in spin doctors originating from many other sectors delivering a service that is increasing being accepted within newsrooms and newspaper advertising departments to maintain profitability.

In reviewing Bob Burton’s Inside Spin, Andrew Dodd poses the proposition that ‘PR people actually do sit around in back rooms dreaming up ways of manipulating the press’. Dodd’s ‘spin’ on spin doctors is not aimed at all PR practitioners and he acknowledges Burton’s statement that ‘not all PR is the same and that many in the profession do act responsibly’, but he condemns others for becoming more cunning in their approach to gaining publicity. ‘They do conceive ways to co-opt and cajole reporters and they really do think through ways of harnessing the editorial pages to promote their message’ (Dodd, 2007, p. 45).

Kounalakis, Banks and Daus (1999) say the nature of spin is only fully comprehended by those who have stepped outside a journalism or communications background and into the corporate world to pursue a career as a spin doctor. This research will examine whether this is the case in relation to real estate spin today. I believe Kounalakis and colleagues’ research, although it is somewhat dated and only examines the American market, still has currency here in Queensland because it highlights the three basic elements of organisational communications of content, distribution and style.

By its very nature spin can be a tantalising option for organisations that want to promote products or policies through developing a specific story line or theme sometimes disguised as an item of newsworthy interest. This does not necessarily mean there is no substance to the spin. Indeed, buried within the spin writings could be a previously undetected agenda or product that is of news value6 and has not yet been reported or investigated. If this is the case and through investigation, this type of spin can help provide a fresh, newsworthy story that is current and give journalists an opportunity to pursue a specific story line once it has been brought to their attention.

Alternatively, spin also can be viewed as an insidious by-product of the pursuit of promotional ‘puffery’, often with little or no real news substance, or for agenda setting to achieve a desired outcome and cloud over a specific topic which may have genuine news value. The packaging and presentation of the spin becomes an important factor in how it is accepted as Grattan suggests:

Talk of leaders as ‘products’ and of the spin that helps sell them reflects the modern convergence of the world of politics, entertainment and advertising. As the extensive writings on spin tell us, today’s leaders are not only spoken of as if they were ‘goods’; they are treated like them, with ‘packaging’ all important. (Grattan, 1998, p. 34)

To fully grasp the significance of Grattan’s point of view, it is necessary to have an overall understanding of exactly who are the spinners, what are their backgrounds and how knowledgeable they are about the spin they are packaging and presenting to the public via media newsrooms? From the interviews I have conducted for this thesis and from my own personal experience, I argue that spinners fall into four categories. Although spinners have emerged from other smaller categories, I have chosen to concentrate on what I believe are the four major categories that are a notable force in creating real estate spin. These categories are:

6 See Appendix 1 for Definition of News Value

1) Journalists who have moved out of the newsroom and established their own private public relations consultancy; 2) Public relations practitioners with university qualifications with and without newsroom experience; 3) Freelance writers with no journalism or public relations qualifications; 4) Specialist researchers and analysts who study specific areas of data and demographics and then collate and ‘package’ this information to promote either their own private business interests or are employed or contracted by corporate organisations, government or political parties to present this information to the public via the media.

In fact, most of the interviewees for this research fall within these categories. This includes former Gold Coast Bulletin senior journalist Steve Hunt, the principal of Media Hunt which specialises solely in real estate PR, former property writer for the Australian Financial Review, Kathy MacDermott who is now general manager of corporate communication for Rowland Communications’ real estate division in Brisbane, Judy Dean principal of Dean Publications; and media manager for Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) Nicola McDougall, a former print media journalist who made the switch to corporate communications.

Armed with a comprehensive knowledge of newsroom requirements having previously worked for the print media, Hunt, MacDermott, Dean and McDougall would be aware of the power of real estate advertising dollars to maintain newspaper profitability. The research I conducted for this thesis suggests that they, along with many other journalists, have grasped the understanding that there is a need to keep newsrooms/editors supplied with a generous proportion of real estate stories to ensure readers are presented with what appears to be a balance between advertising and real estate- related editorial.

Thus my research supports, albeit at arm’s length, what Christopher Warren, Federal Secretary of the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) states in his Editorial in the October-November 2009 edition of the The Walkley Magazine. He refers to the current debate on the future of journalism and the expansion of newsroom workloads under the shrinking number of journalists in Australia. He states that ‘inevitably, there are stories that would have been uncovered but won’t now reach the public’. (2009, p. 4). With newspaper newsroom doors ‘opening’ to non-paid commentary because of the above reasons, it provides PR with a perfect opportunity to capitalise on the current situation.

Spin and Other Sources of Real Estate News

Real estate news germinates from a variety of sources. This thesis will show that a large percentage originates from journalists contacting well-known sources outside the newsroom, in particular from within PR practices representing property clients. These clients could be developers with an agenda to gain publicity for a new property project or a real estate agent wishing to maintain a strong presence in the newspaper through promoting house and land sales in a call to action.

Newsroom journalists also use statistical data from independent real estate analysts and researchers, government statistical data and various industry groups such as the REIQ, Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) and Housing Institute of Australia (HIA), to develop general news stories relating to property and real estate. These topics offer the latest news in statistics and are well received by readers as, mostly, they may relate to their own personal circumstances.

Topics such as Thompson’s weekly auction results (obtained from Australian Property Monitors), shifts in the property market and mortgage rates information were mainstays in The Courier-Mail’s Saturday real estate section during this research. This information was collated over the telephone and written by Thompson who provides weekly updates and market movement in

real estate news. Thompson sources this information from real estate agents, a time-consuming process, while other information such as mortgage rates are sourced via the Internet from http://www.infochoice.com.au/

Other real estate news primarily evolved from journalists’ contacts with real estate agents and whose agenda could be somewhat dubious given that it would not be in their interests to ‘talk down’ the real estate market from which they obtained their income. In this instance, their spin to the journalist could be misleading, lack credibility or divert journalists from seeing the ‘bigger picture’.

Hele, Jensen and De Groot estimated there was a 50/50 split in where their real estate news originated. The first half of their stories came from following up leads and contacts, some of whom were known to them, including PR people and industry sources. The remaining 50 per cent, they stated, evolved from media releases and media alerts or, more precisely, spin.

From my observation, there seems to a giant divide between sourcing independent stories of news value and relying on spin. The disinclination or inability to actively pursue independent real estate stories by journalists in the newsroom is in line with what Dennis Barker states in Tricks Journalists Play:

Finding sources of real value to the public in news stories or features usually demands patience and work. The amount of patience and work that is applied (or the level of trickery to hide the fact that not much works has been done) may well establish the true value of the piece. (Barker, 2007, p. 92)

This fits with the observation of Burton (2007, p. 257) who says: ‘There is legitimacy to the claim by PR practitioners that much of the content of news publications invisibly originates from PR practitioners’.

CHAPTER 3 REAL ESTATE SPIN: SUPPLY, DEMAND AND SYMBIOSIS

As stated earlier, the generous amount of editorial devoted to real estate in The Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin to help offset real estate advertising has provided a seductive avenue for growth in real estate spin resulting in the emergence of specialist real estate spinners. The buoyancy of Queensland’s property market, in particular the South East Queensland market even during times of economic downturn, has created a ‘thirst’ from the public for news about real estate. This, in turn, has allowed spinners from all of the previous four categories to continue to generate news fodder thus maintaining a steady flow of real estate spin into the newspapers’ newsrooms for editorial consideration.

The demand for spin to assist journalists in newsgathering processes has grown exponentially since the 1980s. This could stem from a variety of reasons, in particular to maintain financial viability of newsrooms through maintaining lower staffing levels in news organisations and preference by government, political parties and corporate organisations to maintain tighter control on how they are represented through the media.

Literature Review

My survey of literature on media spin revealed an absence of major scholarly works that specifically addresses the topic of real estate journalism. Resources used to contextualise the broad context of media spin include academic and industry texts such as Australian Press Council (1991 & 2005), Effective Media Relations: How to Get Results (2005), Hacks or Flacks: Media Economics are Blurring the Lines Between Journalism and Public Relations (2002), What is a Spin Doctor? (2009), Getting Past the Spin Cycle: Part Two (2002), Packaging Politics: Political Communications in Britain’s Media Democracy (1994), The Politics of Spin (1998), News and Power (1989), An Australian PR State (2003), Sources of News (1994). Information and data from this body of literature is deployed throughout each chapter in the thesis.

The amount of news sourced from the public relations sector in Australian newspapers was examined 15 years ago in a pilot study Sources of News – Who feeds the Watchdogs? (Zawawi, 1994, pp. 69-71). This study of three daily newspapers found that press releases accounted for almost the entire sections of the business news (93% of the Australian, 90% of the Gold Coast Bulletin, and 84% of the Sydney Morning Herald). Tiffen (1989, p.39) estimated two decades ago that ‘the proportion of information… that became public (in the business section of daily newspapers) ranged from 60 per cent up to 90 per cent…overwhelmingly sourced from within business sources’. Tiffen’s research was far more general than Zawawi’s as it covered a far greater focus area for information gathering that not only included spin from the PR industry but also from outside the PR industry such as unions, analysts, community groups who may or may not have had the use of their own spinners.

More recently, Helen Ester in her paper Political Communication and Political Journalists further fuelled debate when discussing the impact of new technologies when she stated:

There is a heightened need for more inclusive research approaches in the light of technology driven structural changes that have significantly altered the game plan in the highly contested arena of political communications. Journalists’ perspectives from the parliamentary news desk would value-add to discussion of the impact of 21st century digital technology, the parallel expansion in partisan professional public relations operatives and emergency of an influential advocacy ‘commentariats’. (Ester, 2008. p. 29)

Both Tiffen’s and Zawawi’s research now is significantly dated in so much as it was completed in the 1980s and 1990s. I believe it does not reflect growth in the spin industry in the 21st Century; neither does it examine the greater sophistication that has developed within the spin industry. Today’s PR industry and spinners have become far savvier in how to deal with the media

and developed different methodologies to gain the trust of journalists often as a result of tertiary studies as well as developing alliances with newsrooms.7

While Zawawi’s pilot study tracked specifically business news, it would be reasonable to estimate that an even greater proportion of real estate stories in the newspapers stems from outsourced news or spin to compensate for limited staffing levels and excessively large weekly real estate sections, especially those published on Saturday. This will be discussed in greater detail later in this thesis through quantitative research and comparison of real estate advertising and editorial content. From my observations, the proliferation of promotional ‘puffery’ from PR companies employed by cashed- up private enterprise such as real estate developers is fraught with danger.

There is an upside to this in which the newspapers’ outsourcing and acceptance of spin from reliable industry sources can give journalists an opportunity to provide the public/reader/audience with information that can be massaged into a story of interest, often with genuine news value8. This concurs with McDougall who says:

There is a high take up on our press releases (about 70 per cent) written about our quarterly medium suburb-by-suburb price range fluctuations and researched by our own REIQ analyst, as this is new research and obviously newsworthy. (McDougall, 2008, interview)

McDougall says real estate spin, in particular, was accepted and even welcomed within newsrooms where property journalists often had large quotas of editorial space to fill in limited time. This allowed the journalists to give readers editorial balance to the advertising elsewhere in the newspaper (McDougall 2008, interview). It is not unusual for her to receive telephone calls from newsrooms as late at five minutes to five o’clock on a Friday

7 This observation comes from my own initiatives to keep pace apace with work practices, given my business as a consultant journalist and public relations practitioner. 8 See Appendix 1 for Definition of News Value

afternoon from a real estate journalist seeking a quick story from an authoritative voice to fill a last-minute space in the next day’s edition of a newspaper’s real estate section. Such practices match those observed by Corporate Watch UK, which says in an overview of the public relations and lobbying industry:

Fewer journalists are employed and less and less time is available for investigation. Instead content is supplied ever more directly from the press release. Investigative journalism becomes rarer and is supplanted by source journalism. (April 2003, 5.4)

The allotted editorial space that has to be filled in the newsroom is separate to that of advertising departments. The advertising departments mostly produce advertorials, which are promotional features totally devoted to enticing advertisers to invest in real estate promotion by offering ‘complimentary’ editorial space equivalent to the size of the advertisement.9 As a result of this demand there has been a dramatic increase in the emergence of specialist real estate spinners required to write according in the genre of the where the story will published within the newspaper.

Due to the large volume of real estate advertising and the dependence of journalists to rely on receiving information from sources outside the newsroom, there has been considerable growth in the number of PR companies specialising in real estate publicity. While they could be termed spin writers, most have a journalism background with specialist knowledge of the property market. This is good news for the newsroom property editor who may already have established a relationship of trust with the journalist-turned- PR practitioner and, in turn, is comfortable with the media content that the journalist-turned-PR practitioner presents to the newsroom.

9 These observations stem from my personal involvement in working within newsrooms and as a public relations practitioner representing the private sector.

The journalist-turned-PR practitioner, who previously may have sat in the property editor’s desk in the newsroom, has the advantage of understanding how best to present the spin either as a media release or media alert in a manner that will be acceptable by the property editor. These areas of trust and how property editors deal with media releases, media alerts, accuracy and useability will be examined further in the this thesis.

With Queensland’s economy governed primarily by real estate, population growth and the resources boom (2007-08 Annual Economic Report on the Queensland Economy), a natural progression from this has been an increase in publicity in all three areas. Real estate, in particular, has been a driving force behind newspaper revenue for the past two decades, if not longer, and this has given publishers an opportunity to develop creative incentives to attract even greater revenue.10

As a result of this emphasis on real estate and the newspapers’ economic direction to increase revenue from real estate advertising, there has been increased demand for editorial-style ‘news’ to offset increasing real estate advertising. In conjunction with this has been the emergence of specialist real estate journalists, many of whom have moved out of the newsroom to pursue a more lucrative income source in establishing PR businesses specialising in ‘spinning’ specific stories on behalf of their clients.

Prevalence of spin

The prevalence of spin, particularly in the areas of political and government spin, has been the subject of numerous studies but my research found that very little focus has been devoted to real estate spin. Employed within political parties and government departments is a bevy of spin doctors who have fine- tuned spin into an art form. They are especially active during election campaigns and times of heated political debate, and when approached by

10 This observation arises from my personal involvement when working in newspapers to develop advertising-related special feature concepts involving real estate to increase revenue.

journalists seeking answers on sensitive issues affecting the public’s right to know. In discussing the power of political spin, Grattan states that:

Australia’s spin industry is growing rapidly, raising questions about the impact of media management on effective scrutiny by journalists of political processes and issues. Political leaders can appear more visible but in fact be less accessible to detailed questioning by informed interviewers, and election campaigns are now dominated by sophisticated levels of media management by governments and oppositions. The rise is spin has had a negative impact on journalism, distorting news processes and encouraging more passive forms of journalism. (Grattan, 1998, p. 32)

Such is the reliance on spin by politicians and government as a means of protection that Grattan goes so far to suggest that: ‘The media adviser becomes a security blanket’ (1998, p. 35). Grattan’s opinion is supported by Bob Franklin (1994, p. 4) who observed, while studying Britain’s political scene in the 1980s, that ‘politicians became increasingly enthusiastic about the possibilities of using media as vehicles for presenting themselves and their policies’.

Similar sentiment is shared by Ian Ward (2003) who examines what he calls an Australian ‘PR state’. Ward cites Deacon and Golding’s (1994, p.199) study on the British poll tax proposition that governments have not been backward in expanding the use of spin doctors to relay controlled messages thus increasing reliance on these intermediaries and promulgating growth of spin specialists allowing the media to ‘have a strategic role’ in promoting a particular policy solution. (Deacon and Golding, 1994, p. 4)

Governments have learned this lesson and substantially stepped up their own investment in promotion and information management. They have ‘become a major employer of press and public relations activists, and of advertising’ and constructing their own ‘apparatus of spin doctors’. (Deacon and Golding, 1994, pp. 4 and 6 in Ward, 2003, p.1)

A similar view also is supported by Franklin (1994, p. 111) who noted in Britain in the early 1980s a ‘new found enthusiasm for using advertising, marketing and public relations campaigns to sell policies to the public’ and ‘for integrating or ‘packaging’ the political communication activities of its (government) various arms and agencies’. Such trends also were notable in Australia during the 1980s, with the Hawke–Keating government’s National Media Liaison Service having enormous influence on representation of political affairs. (Barns 2005; Stekeetee 1996) and the pattern continues today (Burton 2007; Pearson and Patching 2008).

In more recent times, Ward (2003) argues that Australian governments have proved as enthusiastic as their British counterparts to embrace the usage of media, advertising consultants and public relations to achieve desired objectives. This, says Ward (2003), has led to a number of inter-related phenomena. First, he says, are the media ‘minders’ who, within modern government circles, are now accepted as an institutionalised feature of the personal staff of ministers and ministerial departments.

Second, are the ‘media units’ attached to ministerial departments. These ‘media units’ are mostly composed of journalists hired to co-ordinate the government’s media relations and to monitor news coverage of the government and opposition alike. Third, are the various public affairs sections found within the public service departments through which ministers are able to direct major publicity campaigns. Fourth, are the integrating instruments which provide a ‘whole government’ coordination of the Commonwealth’s promotional activities (Ward, 2003, p. 3).

While noting there has been various studies overseas and in Australia on aspects on the ‘relationship between news organisations and government media relations staff’, Mark Pearson and Roger Patching in their paper Government Media Relations : A ‘Spin’ Through the Literature (2008) note that: ‘no single study has tackled the topic comprehensively’. They state:

It is an important area for study to ensure that key stakeholder – including the public, journalists, parliamentarians and public relations practitioners – have empirical evidence by which they can compare and discuss this phenomenon and take appropriate decisions. (Pearson and Patching, 2008, p. 3)

Gold Walkley Award-winning journalist and political analyst Phil Dickie adopts a similar view, indicating that the extent of spin touted today is overloading our newsrooms and clouding journalistic endeavour. Dickie argues that spin must be addressed at some stage to protect the inherent credibility of both public relations practitioners and journalists.

While Grattan, Franklin and other media analysts have examined the rise of political spin and the spinners’ need to promote their ‘goods’ in a favourable light in the public sphere, there are similarities albeit on a more commercial level, with real estate spin. Here, the spin flows from a variety of sources from within the real estate industry itself. These include private practitioners specialising in public relations, research-specific practitioners and market analysts who attempt to set news agendas through different methodologies including media alerts and releases, special promotions, courting strong one- to-one contacts with newsroom editors and journalists and offering a ‘free’ news-gathering service that is often driven by a commercial agenda.

Boom Times for Spin Doctors

Because spin comes from so many different corners of the corporate and private sectors, political parties and government, editors daily face the enormous task of differentiating what is ‘good’ spin and ‘bad’ spin. Spin doctors are growing at a disproportionate rate to journalists and, aligned to this is the increase in spin ‘doctoring’. In South East Queensland where this research is focussed, there are 371 registered members of the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA).

These are raw figures that I obtained from the PRIA (June 2008) and do not necessarily translate into the real proportion of people working within the PR industry or those who may engage in media management/media relations. PRIA National Information Officer Lloyd Grosse said his association did not have statistics on the ‘drift’ from journalism to public relations, in particular real estate media, and suggests this would make a good research project in itself (Grosse, 2008, pers comm.).

Despite numerous attempts to glean similar statistics from the Media, Entertainment, Arts Alliance (MEAA), none were forthcoming, making it difficult to draw analogies between the two primary sectors which either generate or handle spin. This made the research frustrating and posed the question as to whether the MEAA was prepared to disclose such information or simply lacked staffing levels to investigate and analyse the information required. The latter could lead to an entirely different area of research, as Gross infers.

Burton (2007, p. 214) also discussed the difficulty in gauging the size of both professions, he concedes ‘all agree that the PR industry is growing rapidly while journalists – and especially those that have the time to spend more than a day on a story – are thinning’. He goes so far as to infer that PR professionals have to jostle each other to ‘sell their client’s story’ and a form of ‘sibling rivalry’ has developed within PR. Burton (2007, p. 215) cites Jim McNamara, the general manager of research with the Sydney-based media monitoring and content analysis, Carma International (Asia Pacific) who, in 1994 stated: ‘I think the consumer is in fact being disadvantaged by an under- resourced media and a highly resourced propaganda industry’. This phenomenon has only intensified in the 15 years since he made these comments.

While the PRIA was prepared to provide an estimate of PR people working within the specific postcode area in which this research is under undertaken, University of Queensland research of the mid-1990s ‘showed there were about 4500 journalists working in the mainstream Australian news media at

the time including journalists and editorial staff – but not photographers, or artists – of all levels’ (Chulov 2002, p. 5) .The number of freelancers was unknown but it was estimated at the time by the MEAA that it could account for approximately another 3000. MEAA national president Christopher Warren claimed in the mid-1990s that the number may not have varied greatly due to newspaper closures, however he believed that those ‘working in public affairs may have grown substantially’ (Chulov 2002, p. 5).

Chulov states the PRIA at the time estimated a total of about 7,000 PR operatives. But Chulov also states that this estimate is contradicted by Warren who felt the number of PR practitioners was much higher and could be as high as 10,000 taking all fields of PR into account. (Chulov 2002, p.4) No research figures were available within the MEAA and PRIA relating to public relations practitioners who specialise in real estate.

The Pervasiveness of Real Estate Spin

Since the mid-1990s when the PRIA and Warren’s estimates were recorded, recessionary influences impacting on newspaper staffing levels have come into play. This is especially the case at the Gold Coast Bulletin, where journalists and photographers in 2009 were among those offered attractive voluntary redundancies11 and decreasing newspaper page numbers were observed from content analysis during the latter part of this research. Despite this, there seems to be minimal effect on real estate newspaper advertising, editorial and advertorial.

Therefore, it is not unreasonable to suggest that both newspapers, similar to other business behavioural patterns during times of economic downturn, are closely monitoring their viability and profitability and seizing every opportunity to cut costs and maintain revenue. As the 2009 real estate content analysis of The Courier-Mail and Gold Coast Bulletin revealed (see Chapters 4 and 5), real estate newspaper advertising remains strong with evidence pointing to an

11 This observation arises from discussions in 2009 with several newspaper journalists and photographers who chose to accept voluntary redundancies.

even higher demand by real estate editors for ‘free’ spin from sources outside newsrooms to overcome decreased journalist staffing levels and sustain real estate news content.

Editor’s Duties and Spin

The newspaper property editors at The Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin agreed they were heavily reliant on spin in the form of media alerts, media releases and industry research data to supplement or expand on their daily newsgathering processes (2007, interviews). In fact, both Rogers and Hele were forthcoming in admitting that the bulk of their real estate news had its beginnings in spin whether from a media alert, media release, industry statistical data, telephone call, connection from a trusted source or even a real estate advertising brochure. This is confirmed through content analysis of both newspapers and interviews with PR practitioners and industry media consultants providing real estate information to newspapers, which are discussed in greater depth later in the thesis.

The Courier-Mail produces a relatively small amount of weekly real estate news compared to the Gold Coast Bulletin. The Bulletin continues to expand its real estate news section through special features and liftouts, mostly initiated by the advertising department. This expansion also has been extended to the newspaper group’s two free weekly newspapers, the Northern Sun and the Southern Sun, which come under its operation.12 When advertising staff generates sufficient advertising for special liftouts and supplements, it creates an onus for accompanying editorial. This is far in excess of what The Courier-Mail publishes on a weekly basis.

If advertising is sold on the basis of advertisers receiving ‘free’ editorial space (in reality advertorial), it becomes a win-win situation. The newspaper benefits by increasing its advertising revenue, while also keeping staffing levels to a

12 This observation is personal and arises from observational research of all three newspapers over various periods.

minimum due to the commercial arrangement in which content is largely provided by Dean’s writing bureau services and other PR contributions.

On any given Saturday, Rogers and his staff are responsible for compiling or ‘filling’ anything from 15 to 25 editorial pages of Saturday’s Gold Coast Bulletin to complement a ‘normal’ 176-page Real Estate liftout packed with advertising (see Chapter 4). During peak readership periods such as Easter, this liftout can increase in size to more than 200 pages. This does not include the two free weekly Sun newspapers.

In researching the impact on under-staffed newsrooms and newsgathering sources, I tried to ascertain whether the number of real estate spin doctors working for PR companies or within corporate or industry sectors exceeded the number of journalists in newsrooms. It was easy to gather staffing levels of real estate journalists working in both newspapers, but difficult to ascertain the number of sources of real estate newsgathering outside the newspapers.

From my research and interviews there is evidence that newsrooms are desperately under-resourced in this area in comparison to staffing levels of PR agencies and corporate-industry bodies who have staff, facilities and time to provide and push their spin. As Tiffen explains:

News is a parasitic institution. It is dependent on the information- generating activities of other institutions. Where there is not a strong institutional focus with regular channels of disclosure, newsworthy events are more likely to pass undetected. The most informed and penetrating reporting occurs when concentrations of journalists and their sources allow continuing scrutiny, so that negative news becomes more difficult to conceal or contain. (Tiffen, 1989, p. 51; see also Burton 2007; Ester 2008; Pearson and Patching 2008)

This became evident after interviews with real estate editors at The Courier- Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin who outlined their limited staffing levels, and my interviews with representatives from PR companies, corporate and

industry sectors and private enterprise who engaged staffing levels appropriate to workloads. These interviews also revealed a higher proportion of journalists-cum-PR practitioners who had moved out of newspaper newsrooms and embedded themselves in the spin industry compared to the number of journalists who were working in newsrooms producing real estate news. As I mentioned earlier, this drift of journalists from newsrooms into the PR, corporate and industry sectors would be an interesting topic for future research.

In my series of interviews and observations at The Courier-Mail with Hele, Jensen, and De Groot (August 21-23, 2007), it was revealed their news desk, which handles real estate ‘hard’ news, receives approximately 100 emails as media alerts or press releases a day. By ‘hard’ news I mean real estate news that is printed within the general news section of the newspaper or within specific sections such as Prime Site. These media alerts and press releases stemmed mostly from PR sources and had to be examined for currency and newsworthiness and were further investigated by Hele, Jensen and De Groot before publication.

While Hele estimated her department receives up to 100 media alerts and releases a week, Rogers said this was far in excess of the number sent to his department at the Gold Coast Bulletin. He estimated his real estate department received approximately 80 media alerts and press releases a month. He believes this anomaly lies in the different circulation of each newspaper.

The Courier-Mail is Queensland’s major metropolitan newspaper with state- wide coverage, while the Gold Coast Bulletin is a large regional daily newspaper. Both have different advertising rates proportionate to their circulation. Rogers believes PR sources from around Queensland are more focussed on achieving coverage in The Courier-Mail because of the newspaper’s wider circulation hence the greater daily flow of real estate spin into The Courier-Mail.

Rogers said that the media releases (as opposed to the media alerts) were presented to the Gold Coast Bulletin by a smaller number of PR sources. These sources appear to take longer in preparing their real estate spin, which was more comprehensive in content and thus more likely to be used. This was surprising given the lesser number of PR operatives in Rogers’ area but the high usage of media releases by Rogers suggests that PR practitioners provide a valuable news support structure for his department.

Same Story, Different Newspaper

Confirming Tiffen’s observations on the shortcomings of news and through my own observational research, I found in one month alone (August 2007), three incidences where the same story and even the same or similar photographs had been used in the real estate and/or property sections of both The Courier- Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin on the same days. This, in itself indicates how editors will accept spin if there is a strong storyline and appears to be current and newsworthy.

In the August 3, 2007 editions of both The Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin, two similar stories containing the same facts obviously originating from the same source were published in both editions of the newspapers. The stories contained identical wording in some sections and a similar ordering of ideas. One story related to a developer, Noel Mewett, and his purchase of land for redevelopment fronting the Nerang River. The story was published in brief format in The Courier Mail (p. 90) and as the lead property story in the Gold Coast Bulletin (p. 87). The Courier-Mail carried Hele’s byline while there was no byline in the Gold Coast Bulletin story.

Another example was a story published on the same day, August 3, 2007, as the lead story for The Courier-Mail’s Prime Site Business Plus section (p. 88) and also as the back-page lead story for the Gold Coast Bulletin’s Business Friday section (pp. 96, 94). While the story was newsworthy as it announced a massive $500 million residential development at Coomera by a newcomer to the real estate market, there was very little differentiation between the stories

except for the headline and some content reorganisation in the ‘body’ of the stories.

In some instances changes only were made to a couple of words. The photograph was almost identical showing the developer with the estate in the background, although credit was given to the photographer in the Gold Coast Bulletin’s story which also was further elaborated with a breakout story about developer. Both stories were published by the newspapers but under different journalists’ bylines. The Courier-Mail story carried Torney Jensen’s byline while the Gold Bulletin’s story carried the byline of Tracey McBean, the business property editor.

Esser et al (2001, p. 16) in discussing the theory of metacommunication as a news coverage strategy and the mass media’s response in the interplay between PR and political journalism state that ‘while metacoverage is discussed as a new style of reporting to be welcomed in the view of professionalised political PR, journalism is inherently limited in analysing PR adequately’. They further state (p. 20) that ‘ the development of metacommunication filtering into ordinary news reporting coincides with a critical shift in way communication scholars think about the function of the mass media in modern society (Esser et al, 2001 p. 20).

Pearson and Patching (2008, p. 43) draw attention to Esser el al’s observations (2001, p. 31) of ‘meta-analysis’ as a way of dealing with spin by giving it background identity. This analysis appears to apply in the duplication of the same story in The Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin on the same day but under different bylines. I would suggest this is not an uncommon occurrence although there may be differentiation on the timing of the usage of the same story stemming from outside the newsroom13 on different days.

13 Appendix 2 reproduces the MEAA Journalists’ Code of Ethics.

By not disclosing that the real estate story had emanated from a third-party source e.g. a media release, it could be said that the journalists who had added their byline to the story could be seen as condoning press release journalism and being compliant with PR’s objective to such an extent as plagiarising PR work. Richards (2005, p. 63) states ‘the public relations consultants concerned do not generally object to have their material presented in this way to an unsuspecting audience’. Simmons (2006, p. 3) notes the dangers of what he calls ‘media release journalism’ where reporters failed their audiences by not disclosing that press releases were the sources of stories.

Where ‘press release journalism’ occurs as a result of the placement of news releases, with the strategic intention that they will be used as journalistic comment without disclosure of the source (for example in small and regional newspapers without the resources for independent research and corroboration), it constitutes ethically objectionable behaviour by the public relations practitioner. (Simmons, 2006, p. 3)

In referring back to the use of the same media release in both The Courier- Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin I believe this is problematic in so much that the story did not have its genesis from within either newsroom but from a source outside the newsroom as discussed by Simmons and brings into play the question of over-usage and credibility of bylines in newspapers, in particular when a story has not germinated from within the newsroom. This, in itself, would make an interesting area for further research.

While the latter story in the two newspapers each varied slightly due to the journalists’ mixing up the information by rewriting it in their respective newsrooms, it was obvious that the stories published under the different bylines stemmed from the same source outside the newsroom. This was apparent because they contained the same information and, in one instance, virtually the same photograph that had most probably been supplied with a comprehensive and detailed media release from the same source. This appears to be in conflict with the Australian Journalists’ Code of Ethics (see

Appendix 2). These seem to contravene the spirit of passage 3 because there appears to be no attempt to attribute the information to the original source. Instead, it appears the journalists are ‘claiming’ the story and images as their own by adding their own byline and failing to disclose that the story was sourced from a media release or other pre-packaged PR spin. In doing so it appears that the journalists were content to allow the original source to retrain anonymity bringing into question news values14.

In both instances the real estate editors at the newspapers must have deemed the information to be sufficiently newsworthy and of public interest to be acceptable for publishing. In both cases the story was used as the lead story for the newspapers’ specific real estate sections. Hele’s use of the story in an extended version seems unusual insomuch that she states she prefers to be sent media alerts, which tip journalists off to story ideas, rather than lengthy media releases, which can be copied verbatim (2008, interview).

In the same month, there appeared another example of both newspapers running the same story on the same day with the same photograph. The story was about Opus Capital Group’s intention to build a $19million commercial building at Varsity Lakes on the Gold Coast. While neither story carried bylines, the introduction was almost identical except for slight re-wording and paragraphs containing identical quotes were published.

The story in The Courier-Mail (p. 90) was more succinct (12 paragraphs) while the Gold Coast Bulletin’s version (p. 84) was far longer (21 paragraphs). It was not possible to obtain the original releases that stimulated these stories. However, the evidence leads to the assumption that the fully abridged version of a media release was used in the Gold Coast Bulletin in comparison to The Courier’s Mail where the story had been re-written. If, in one month, three different examples can be found of using the same media release on the same day in two different newspapers, the mind can only boggle at how

14 See Appendix 1 for a definition of News Values.

extensive this practice has become overall as newspapers continue the ‘dance’ with PR spin.

As Simmons further states:

The PR industry survives in large part because of its ability to provide a helping hand with media stories. The value of the placement of news release material varies with the audience and the medium, but the stakes and the motivation for PR people area high. (Simmons, 2006, p. 5)

I concur with Simmons’ statement that ‘the public has a right to know who is persuading them, and more research needs to be done to determine the extent of influence that third party news sources have on editorial news’ (Simmons, 2006, p. 7). In examining the content and proliferation of real estate stories found in The Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin, it appears that PR’s influence is much stronger than originally thought.

Rogers says that in dealing with PR, he usually contacts the PR source to seek further elaboration or give the story greater clout by including a secondary breakout story focussing on the developer or other source. It is evident that this pattern was followed in the story that was run on August 3, 2007 in order to create the breakout article, even though the main story copied the source’s spin almost verbatim.

This fits with McDougall’s (2008, interview) statement saying she was contacted regularly by real estate journalists and writers seeking additional information to ‘beef up’ a story that had either been initially generated from within the REIQ, or from another source outside the newspaper that may require additional comment from an industry authority such as the REIQ. She said when this happened, the real estate journalist mostly was quite honest in admitting they wanted to give the story extra depth with additional facts, often via statistical data generated through REIQ research or further industry comment.

Drawing from the above analysis, it is reasonable to estimate that the large percentage of real estate news within the general news sections of both newspapers stems from external sources such as public relations professionals and corporations, which use various methods to have their spin accepted in the newsroom. Central to the pervasive influence spin has in real estate newsrooms is its powerful effect on editors who appear willing to accept and publish the spin in one form or another whether it be verbatim or as a means to develop storylines through further investigation.

This, in itself, must impact on how real estate news is presented to the public, regardless of whether the content of the spin has a genuine news value15 or is little more than a subtle marketing ploy to fulfil a commercial agenda on behalf of a PR company client. This is not to say that all journalists are willing to accept PR spin but it does reveal an interdependency on how much power spin has in real estate newsrooms and the growing impact on journalism standards.

15 See Appendix 1 for Definition of News Value

CHAPTER 4 THE POWER AND IMPACT OF SPIN

As both Hele and Rogers attest, real estate editors are becoming increasingly reliant on spin as part of their newsgathering processes as newspaper page layout formats, known as dummies, allow for generous accommodation of real estate news content. This, combined with the small number of newsroom journalists working within their departments, places pressure on them to maintain a wide variety of stories with fresh reader appeal. Both Hele and Rogers said their department staffing levels had either remained stagnant or had decreased making them more dependent on accepting spin generated from outside the newsroom as a means to present readers with a variety of real estate stories.

Hele, Rogers and McDougall’s admissions that there is constant person-to- person communication between newspaper staff and those working outside newsroom shows that it appears to be standard practice for journalists to rely on PR and other sources for information. Although the outsourced information may add further substance to the story, I believe this approach is problematic. The true value of journalistic investigation could be under threat if the strong reliance by newspaper journalists to obtain their initial ideas and addition information from PR and other sources is maintained and considered acceptable.

Seven years ago, Chulov (2002, p. 5) stated that: ‘4000 journalists work for State or Commonwealth governments in a public relations capacity’. Looking at Chulov’s estimation, Ward concluded the new reality shows that the media see there is a strong demand and place importance in ‘the use of PR and marketing strategies by political parties and sectional interest groups to spin favourable news coverage’ (Ward, 2003, p. 11). If this was the case in 2002 then one seriously has to consider the implications and objectiveness in 2009 and the power that public relations could hold over newsrooms and controlling newspaper editorial content, especially in real estate reporting.

The prolificacy of spin becomes very much a part of a mechanism to cover up bad news or improve imagery. This has been the case for at least two decades. In 1989, Tiffen (p. 77) observed: ‘Governments have become adept at wringing more public kudos from policies by prolonging the attention to good news’. Pearson and Patching (2008, p. 21) note that the first six months of Kevin Rudd’s ascendancy to the prime minister’s job ‘were littered with further examples’ of both the new government and opposition ‘trying to control the media’. One example was the refusal to answer any questions at a ‘photo opportunity only’ during a visit by Rudd to Fairfax headquarters in Sydney to deflect attention on Rudd’s first budget and subsequent ‘leaks’ (Pearson & Patching, 2008, p. 21).

Another populist example is the introduction of tax cuts where information can be spun or rolled-out over extended periods. Disguising or diffusing ‘bad’ news to the public can require a swift spin approach in the hope that another ‘story’ will evolve to take the heat away from what could be perceived as a bad story. In these instances, the onus falls back on the newsroom and its reporters and editors to sift through the spin.

Although much of the discussion presented in this thesis explores the problems associated with public relations, spin can have a positive side. Spin can present major public announcements, although carefully crafted, that contain many facts often saving the journalist precious time in seeking out basic factual information. A responsible and competent spin doctor or public relations practitioner would have the skills and knowledge to ensure that such facts were included in the spin as a reference material.

From a real estate news perspective, spin is mostly used to promote and/or improve imagery. This can be in various forms but most likely to promote a developer with a new project, induce a call to action through positive media releases or diverting attention away from ‘news’ that could have a damaging effect on the company.

My observation of the real estate pages of the Gold Coast Bulletin and The Courier-Mail each week (whether within the general news section of both newspapers or the advertising-driven feature supplements containing advertorials) found that the editors generally place a positive spin on each story. Real estate ‘bad news’ usually is not found in these sections of the newspapers, but is published more within the general or front pages of the newspaper so as not to endanger lucrative advertising dollars sunk into the real estate liftouts.

Further to this observation, I found there was very little ‘bad’ real estate news even in the earlier news sections of both newspapers. This differs from veteran American real estate reporter Ronald E. Roel’s (2007) observations in his white paper Real Estate and Media: Understanding news coverage and its impact on the housing market. Roel subscribes to the theory that it is only the ‘bad’ news that journalists are pursuing despite interested parties such as the Mortgage Bankers Associated in America allocating $5million for extra advertising, research and lobbying to combat a ‘torrent of unfair press and counterproductive policy responses’.

Whenever times are tough or things go south, it’s almost instinctive to ascribe blame. Indeed, the news media itself, eagerly engages in this process, looking for someone or something to blame when deconstructing any crisis. But there’s also a host of interesting and complex questions to consider about the relationship of the media to industries like real estate, how the news-gathering process works and what impact it has on consumer behaviour. (Roel, 2007, p. 3)

This does not seem to match with what I observed in my textual analysis of The Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin, during this research period where the housing industry in Australia was savaged by a global economic crisis. Certainly, there was a smattering of negative real estate stories inter- related to what was happening the economy but it did not appear to interrupt the flow of positive stories printed in both newspapers.

McDougall (2008, interview) is supportive and encouraging of newsroom real estate journalists contacting her as an authoritative voice to add industry or statistical comment to a story they are writing or re-writing from a spin source and is equally as eager to ‘push’ her spin onto real estate newsrooms. This is true of a number of other corporate research analysts attached to industry groups and larger real estate organisations such as the HIA, UDIA and PRD Nationwide Research. Because of this, their real estate spin becomes a source of information that is accepted by real estate editors, wisely or not, as McDougall states:

A lot of journalists contact me for an as authoritative voice state-wide to offer comment on what they are writing. As an industry body we have no commercial agenda to push and the journalist simply is seeking a better understanding about the story they are writing. (McDougall, 2008, interview)

As previously indicated, the Gold Coast Bulletin receives approximately the same number of media releases a month compared to that received on a daily basis at The Courier-Mail. The difference is that the Gold Coast Bulletin is far more heavily reliant on spin because of the large number of real estate editorial pages the newspaper has to fill, especially on a Saturday to offer some sort of balance with advertising.

In examining the Saturday editions of The Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin on March 10-11, 2007, it became obvious that the 184-page Gold Coast Bulletin had a far more excessive number of real estate advertising/editorial/advertorial liftout pages to fill (140 pages) as opposed to The Courier-Mail’s real estate liftout (80 pages). (See Tables 4 and 5)

These figures only include the dedicated real estate and property pages, and not the real estate stories that might run elsewhere in the general early news sections of both newspapers with a ‘pointer’ to the real estate section.

From my observation of both newspapers’ content, I believe the newspapers are willing to allow generous coverage of real estate news to give balance to the high proportion of real estate advertising accepted to maintain revenue. I further contend that if the newspapers chose only to print paid real estate advertising, there would be a danger of losing credibility in the eyes of the readers.

These readers would find themselves presented only with pages and pages of ‘flowery-written’ advertisements containing over-usage of superlatives and photography to subtly look like editorial but, in fact, contained no real estate editorial news. An example of this can be found August 4-5, 2007, edition of the Gold Coast Bulletin in which the real estate section of 136 pages contained 37 pages of Ray White Real Estate’s advertising with one of the advertisements reading as follows:

When a great architect creates, the results speak for themselves. This wonderful family home has been designed with both class and comfort in mind. Totally private, contemporary plantation lounge, dining and huge deck area overlooking you 12 metre pontoon and easterly views to the canal and Surfers skyline….our fastidious owners have renovated this home as new, and I mean as new. (Weekend Bulletin, 2007, realestate.com.au p. 19)

While the above is an example of advertising content where the author is unknown, it indicates a need for newspaper editors to balance this abundance of advertising, often written in the superlative-laden style outlined above, with genuine real estate news. To be seen to achieving real estate news versus advertising balance, the newspaper format includes a dedicated number of editorial-driven real estate pages. In the example above, 17 pages were allotted for real estate news either as cleanskin pages (pages not containing any advertising) or pages containing limited advertising. Contained within these 17 pages, were 21 different real estate editorials with photography as well as six pages of statistical data such as mortgage rates and auction results.

The table below shows the makeup of the 136 pages of the Gold Coast Bulletin’s real estate liftout section of August 4-5, 2007, as discussed above:

Table 4: Makeup of Gold Coast Bulletin real estate liftout (August 4-5, 2007) Total number Total number Total number of real Other pages advertising pages of real estate estate editorials including (including editorial (often combined newspaper Classified pages) pages with photography) promotion and front cover 117.13 pages 17 pages 22 pages 1.87 pages

With 21 real estate news pages to fill and 21 stories to file for this specific edition of the Gold Coast Bulletin, Rogers said he and his team relied on receiving real estate information from sources outside the newsroom to assist in generating real estate news. This was evident when examining the real estate news pages as detailed above where there was a mix of editorial written by Rogers and his journalism team as well as submissions from journalists-cum-PR people and industry media consultants such as the UDIA and Colliers PRD research. Rogers said his small team of journalists would not have time to research and write all the editorial required and he was happy to allow news processes to be set outside the newsroom by accepting real estate spin information:

The general standard is acceptable in the way it is written and submitted by those who understand they are not just simply pushing a media barrow on behalf of a client. My role is slightly different to that of news editor as we adopt an upbeat attitude towards the real estate industry in our real estate editorial section. (Rogers, 2008, interview)

Without receiving spin, Rogers said it would be difficult for his team to have time to develop the large number of contacts required to source editorial and photographs to fill, as another example, the 17-plus cleanskin editorial pages

containing 21 stories allotted to him within the 128 pages of the Gold Coast Bulletin real estate liftout on March 10-11, 2007 (this excludes the 12 pages of advertorials in the same edition). Examination of the following Saturday editions of the Gold Coast Bulletin during this period revealed similar figures and a heavy reliance on spin to fill pages or gain leads to follow up into major stories. Rogers also admitted that approximately 80 per cent of photography was generated from sources outside the newsroom.

Dedicating such a large percentage of cleanskin pages to real estate editorial in the Gold Coast Bulletin on a weekly basis does seem extreme in counter- balancing news against advertising. Rogers said the reason for incorporating expansive editorial space into the real estate liftout was to maintain the reputation as to what he refers to as the Gold Coast Bulletin being viewed as ‘the bible’ for real estate news by readers within Australia as well as setting a benchmark for other newspapers.

The page allotment certainly is far greater overall than that of The Courier- Mail which appears not to base its reputation on real estate but on a far wider general news agenda. This being the case, there appears to be an anomaly as to whether genuine items of news value16 are being clouded by spin doctors who have specific agendas in promoting a specific message in representing their interests. This gives a persuasive edge to spin and its high acceptance within newspaper newsrooms.

The Courier-Mail during the same period (March 10-11, March 2007) printed 13 stories in its real estate liftout (excluding the Home section) but these were of a much smaller size and contained less photography than that of the Gold Coast Bulletin. When interviewing Thompson (April 2007) about real estate editorial content in The Courier-Mail, he said most of the facts for the stories were obtained over the telephone from sources he had previously established. Thompson said he would have great difficulty in filling allotted

16 See Appendix 1 for Definition of News Value

editorial space if it were not for having established contacts with those assisting in offering information outside the newsroom.

Rogers, on the other hand and, whenever possible, would endeavour to have his staff visit the property to give it a lifestyle flavour to the story, time permitting. However, he admitted this was not always possible so there was heavy reliance on using the spin information he had been supplied from a trusted PR or industry source. This, in itself, identifies both the impact and power real estate spin has in determining news, especially in the Gold Coast Bulletin.

Table 5. Comparison of two Saturday editions of The Courier-Mail and Gold Coast Bulletin in March and April 2007 Newspaper Total No. Total No. Total No. Total No. Other pages in advertising editorial real estate pages real estate pages incl. pages* stories and ** guide Classified* photography TCM 68 55.25 7.75 14 5 10-11/3/07 GCB 128 110.25 10.75 21 7 10-11/3/07 TCM 32 25 6.5 16 0.5 7-8/4/07 GCB 208 186.75 20 38 10 7-8/4/07 * Excludes Home advertorial pages ** In-house newspaper promotional advertisements, auction/inspection times, front page to guide

Table 6. Comparison of the entire real estate content of the April 7-8, 2007 Easter editions of The Courier-Mail and Gold Coast Bulletin Newspaper Total Total Real Estate Total Real Total Real Pages Advertising pages Estate Editorial Estate Pages Editorials TCM 104 29.54 6.45 13 GCB 392 219.61 20.49 35

As Table 4 suggests, the Gold Coast Bulletin appears to place greater importance on the quantity of real estate advertising, most likely for income generation, while the editorial had a lifestyle focus with large photographs and over-generous descriptions of properties. This fits with Rogers’s aim that the Gold Coast Bulletin, serving a large tourist destination and a city affected by population migratory trends, will offer upbeat, lifestyle stories with strong reader appeal to those who may be considering buying into the region and looking for the ‘perfect’ property.

We believe the Gold Coast is renowned as a holiday destination that often equates into population drift from other states and overseas and one of the key drivers of that momentum is real estate. We evaluate the real estate market, look for new and interesting stories (mostly generated by spin) and are careful not to be repetitive in content. (Rogers, 2008, interview)

This is distinctly different to The Courier-Mail’s approach in presenting real estate news which was more factual with less photography and smaller size stories. While Table 5 presents a sample of two Saturday editions of The Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin (including the Easter edition), I expanded this research further with a study of the entire content of both Easter editions of the newspapers (see Table 6) when real estate advertising and real estate spin are at a premium.

The period chosen was the Easter weekend edition of April 7-8. 2007 and the reasoning behind expanding this research was to gauge whether real estate spin also was being accepted in the general news section of the newspapers

during this hectic time. For this sample, I also included all real estate advertising and real estate stories through both newspapers such as the general news section, but excluded the Home advertorial and any other liftout sections unrelated to real estate.

The results showed that The Courier-Mail’s 104-pages on that weekend contained a total of 29.54 pages of real estate advertising throughout the entire paper including real estate Classified advertising and 6.45 pages of real estate editorial (or 13 stories) with only one major general news story on Page 9 used as a pointer to the real estate liftout. On the same weekend, the Gold Coast Bulletin’s bumper 392-page edition (excluding the Home advertorial section and any other liftout sections unrelated to real estate), contained 219.61 pages of advertising and 20.49 pages of real estate editorial (comprising 35 stories).

In comparing the real estate editorial in both editions, the Gold Coast Bulletin newsroom seemed far more generous in filling its editorial pages with lengthy stories on certain properties accompanied by extensive photography allowing the story to be spread, in many cases, over 1.5 to two pages. If the Gold Coast Bulletin had adopted a similar approach to treating real estate news such as The Courier-Mail, it is possible that a far greater number of stories would be printed with lesser words and photography. This also presents the tantalising proposition that the story content could become more news orientated rather than be skewed towards Roger’s preferred promotional, lifestyle theme.

Also noticeable were similarities in the news contents of the real estate stories, although different in presentation and photography, coverage was still given to specific housing developments and statistical data which points to both newspapers and their editors not being adverse to using this type of spin and the impact it has overall on newsgathering processes.

Impact of Spin on Newsgathering Processes

Hele and Thompson, and to a lesser degree, Rogers, all agree that the use of spin supplied from sources outside their newsrooms has an impact on their newsgathering processes in one form or another. Hele says her preference for short, snappy media alerts allows her to quickly follow up the point of contact and then develop, in most cases, a real estate story that goes directly to the facts and therefore her real estate stories often are smaller in content than those of the Gold Coast Bulletin for reasons outlined previously by Rogers.

Because Hele has set the precedent of seeking only media alerts from journalists-cum-PR people rather than other types of spin doctors, she believes this can often give her the edge in publishing a real estate news scoop. This, she believes is a fundamental difference between The Courier- Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin in the presentation of their real estate news and reflects the impact of spin in their newsgathering processes. While Hele’s approach is one of presenting the facts succinctly, Rogers’s view seems to be more consumer-driven. Readers are presented with real estate stories that have a ‘softer’ approach, in some instances in a more promotional manner not unlike that of advertorials, an area that will be covered in greater depth later in this thesis when examining the different editorial styles of four editions of the annual Gold Coast Bulletin’s Property and Suburb Guide.

While Hele and Rogers both readily accept spin as being necessary to their day-to-day newsgathering processes, their dissemination of the spin is entirely different – Hele using media alerts to gather facts and prepare shorter, ‘hard’ news’ stories, and Rogers choosing to use the spin on a more commercial level with promotional overtures.

In both cases, their newsgathering process is linked to the supply of spin and could have severe ramifications on their journalistic endeavours in the way real estate news is written and presented in both newspapers. There appears to be a culture of ‘follow-up, follow-up, follow-up’ rather than ‘investigate,

investigate, investigate’. Grattan (1998, p. 32) appears to recognise these shortfalls in news-gathering processes saying spin can contribute to having a negative effect on journalism by ‘distorting news processes and encouraging more passive forms of journalism’.

This would appear to be the case with Rogers who believes a passive style of writing after following up the spin appeals to his readers. This being the case, it seems that Rogers is setting a specific news agenda for the spin doctor to follow in suggesting how he would like the real estate spin editorial to be written and presented to the newsroom for publication and is not seeking a hard core news tactic that could, conversely, antagonise advertisers. In light of this approach, Rogers is almost inviting PR people to write their real estate editorial spin in a promotional style which, conversely, could fit with the agenda of PR’s client.

While this thesis does not set out to debunk the integrity of real estate journalists and editors or PR practitioners, the latter of whom have often made the switch from journalism to PR, it does draw attention to a growing interdependency on spin in newsrooms and the impact this is has on journalists in presenting real estate news. Referring to spin and the reporting and newsgathering processes process more generally, Aeron Davis says:

As news organisations have been forced to make cuts while simultaneously increasing output, so their dependency on PR ‘information subsidies’ has grown. On the one hand, this suggests that public relations is having a stronger influence on the profession of journalism. On the other hand, it might also be concluded that traditional hierarchies of media-source relations are being altered significantly in the new PR-saturated media environment. (Davis, 2006, p. 27)

Dumbing Down the Media

After reflecting on the power of political spin in Britain during the period of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s mid-1998 cabinet reshuffle, Grattan (1998, p. 32) says that ‘the rise of spin has had a negative impact on journalism, distorting news process and encouraging more passive forms of journalism on newsgathering processes’. While Grattan was referring specifically to a confidant of Blair, an former spin doctor-cum-Cabinet Minister, Peter Mandelson who used his journalism contacts to support Blair’s political path, her views are shared with Corporate Watch UK (2003) which says:

The media in turn has become more dependent on PR to supply content to fill airtime or column inches. Whilst newspapers have been steadily shedding staff over the last couple of decades they have simultaneously managed to produce even thicker publications, and the ever-growing ranks of PR are happy to help fill the pages. (Corporate Watch UK, 2003, 5.0)

Referring more specifically to real estate news, independent real estate analyst, Michael Matusik, even goes so far as to say that: ‘spin today is dumbing down the media and news currency’ and often was a ‘symbolism of doing nothing’ as well as ‘being a barrier to democracy’. He added that it had become hard to ‘cut through the clutter’ of spin get to the real facts and strongly supported the concept of the Fourth Estate to maintain the role of democracy (Matusik, 2008, interview).

Matusik’s analysis of ‘dumbing down’ the media through the dominance of spin is confirmed by Corporate Watch UK (2003) which states that:

One of the most alarming effects of the burgeoning PR industry’s relationship with the media, is that it leads to a steady dumbing down of most news outlets…. In this environment the PR companies have become a necessary crutch for the media but not one that the media is

keen to investigate and expose to the public. (Corporate Watch UK, 2003, 5.4).

Tiffen (2008) similarly says: ‘Spin has become not just an add-on extra but has become increasingly intrinsic to policymaking and political practice’. Drawing from Anthony Downs’ (1957) political science theories in An Economic Theory of Democracy, Tiffen talks of the advantages of incumbency within the political arena and how spin has ‘become institutionalised on a massive scale’ and where ‘tweaking could create an advantageous outcome’ (Tiffen, 2008, NP).

Control and Influence

From the information above, it appears that PR spin often filters the facts through to the journalist in a controlled manner, and this often makes it difficult for the journalist and afterwards for the reading public to gain an immediate and clear perspective of the ‘whole news’ picture. To obtain the whole news picture, the journalist often needs to pursue the story by seeking different sources with a different view to ensure accuracy and gain all the facts.

The investigation process can be long and exhaustive, as the journalist may have to dig below the spin and gather and test much information before he/she can present an accurate account to the public.17 However, quite often the journalist simply does not have the luxury of time to do this and take the news control away from the PR agenda.

Co-winner of the 2008 Gold Walkley Award Ross Coulthart (2009, p. 16) is another source who suggests that spin doctors in the guise of political minders are a threat to democracy through their influence and infiltration into government and the power they hold in determining agendas. Coulthart admits ‘it can be a valuable experience for a journalist to work on the other side in a ministerial or departmental office’ where he says journalists can use

17 This observation arises from my personal observation as a public relations practitioner and from working as a journalist and sub-editor.

their valuable experience and insight to formulate spin that could possibly be accepted by newsrooms without further investigation. He sees this as a real danger to news credibility and the public’s right to know.

These infiltrators are putting the independence of the entire public service at risk. They are flouting parliamentary democracy, notions of the separation of powers, and they spit in the eye of all of the laws that have been crafted to protect the public from the worst excesses of executive government. (Coulthart, 2009, p. 16)

Burton (2007, p. 239) states that ‘public scepticism about much of corporate and government PR is well justified’ and that ‘high-level PR is about eroding independence of thought and action’ as modern PR is more about formulating ‘win-win’ solutions. Keeping the threat of further investigation of ‘digging’ down below the spin puts at risk the fundamental rights of truth and democracy.

Much has been written about spin’s influence but there arises a point of objectivity and this is where the discussion is often neither black nor white but sits within grey lines. Unfortunately no research exists in how these grey lines are influencing real estate news’ agendas. From my research, both quantitative and qualitative, there seems to be a laissez-faire approach with real estate journalists in accepting the spin they are fed, and PR people prepared to ‘push’ the boundaries in the presentation of media releases/alerts to meet commercial agendas of clients.

Reliable Sources

I am not arguing that spin is always bad or all-controlling of journalists. McDougall points to instances where it is not possible for journalists to ‘control’ all the data gathering processes and they need to accept information that is presented from a reliable source. Such sources include the REIQ’s qualified research analyst who uses raw data to provide quarterly real estate

information formulated from gathering processes of finalised property sales and prices on a suburb-by-suburb basis. This data collection is purely statistical, yet, when presented on a regular basis to newsrooms including tracking of previous data, journalists are replicating not just the raw figures or statistics but also the REIQ’s analytic framework (or spin).

The REIQ is not the only source providing newsrooms with statistical data and herein lies a conflict with newspaper real estate editors as to which data is used. This can be seen in The Courier-Mail and Gold Coast Bulletin, where neither newspaper has in-house analysts to compile such information or the resources to check the reliability of data-gathering and statistical calculation. This has not always been the case. Later in the thesis, I will briefly outline a period when in-house statistical data was used by the Gold Coast Bulletin to prepare its annual Property and Suburb Guide. This was a rarity in real estate newsgathering, and the Gold Coast Bulletin itself has ceased conducting such research due to a change in editorial direction and the full acceptance of spin outsourced from journalist-cum-PR practitioners.18

McDougall says the information presented by REIQ’s media unit is widely accepted as fact by journalists. She estimates that approximately 70 per cent of REIQ media preleases contain raw statistical data relating to such topics as medium house prices, most expensive and most affordable suburbs (emanating from the suburb-by-suburb data analysis) and best performing suburbs. These are often are used verbatim by newspapers who source the information back to the REIQ.

In some instances, the journalist handling the information is not familiar with the actual meaning of medium house price and will contact me as a source of accurate information. While this is trusting of my knowledge and the industry I represent, it also shows how spin can control the facts available to journalists. (McDougall, 2008, interview)

18 This observation stems from my personal involvement with preparation of editorial for the Annual Gold Coast Bulletin Property and Suburb Guide for several years.

Hunt believes it is important for spinners to have control over the facts before presenting them to the media. Being a senior investigative journalist with 17 years experience in newsrooms, he has witnessed the results of journalists being accepting of spin and not checking the facts.

He gave the impression that journalists should be prepared to investigate all spin, however he was not prepared to give any examples to back up this statement. Hunt says he sees the role of PR as a conduit between the newsroom and the client, the latter who may not necessarily want or have the time to speak directly with a journalist.

As we sit at the coalface with the client and often have more contact, meetings and everyday access, we usually have greater knowledge of what is happening than the journalist who may only have limited access to the information. It is our role to provide the journalist with information and ensure that it is newsworthy. Sometimes this is a balancing act between journalism and PR. (Hunt, 2008, interview)

As a paid representative of the client, it is in Hunt’s and other PR spinners’ interests to ensure that the message given to the journalist, although controlled in content, also contains enough facts to satisfy the journalist’s and the real estate editor’s requirements in publishing a new news story. It also is within the interests of all parties to make sure these facts are accurate. As Hunt points out: ‘we don’t want to lose credibility with both parties’ (2008, interview).

As Corporate Watch UK points out in referring to the power of big agencies and spin doctor:

As the primary point of contact between business and the media, PR people can control access to information which journalists want. This gives them tremendous leverage in negotiating with journalists, as they are in a position to refuse information. (Corporate Watch UK, 2003)

Political and government spin presents a different scenario where, in some cases it is vital that the spin controls the facts given to the journalist. Ward refers to the strategic role media that units play today and suggests there is an important lesson to be learnt:

It is that media units staffed by professional journalists with the function of ‘monitoring the media and feed them with material damaging to the Opposition’ (Dodson 1998, p. 41) have become an institutionalised and indispensable feature of the Australian public relations state. (Ward, 2003, p. 7)

Ward (2003) shows that public affairs practitioners are highly active in trying to influence or even limit the facts given to journalists. Ward’s suggestion that there is strong control of the political spin that is fed to journalists, is backed by Media Monitors’ John Croll (2003) who estimates that ‘40 per cent of its business now comes from government departments’. (See also Parks 2001)

Strategies for Creating Successful Spin

Understaffed newsrooms are a blessing for PR and spin doctors, most of whom have newsroom background and are aware of how to take maximum advantage of the situation. Bland, Theaker and Wragg (2005) point out that competent practitioners are familiar with newsroom deadlines and know how to avoid days where the newspaper is likely to be swamped with other news:

Newspapers have a standard format for each issue. On a quiet news day, a story might be used which on another day would not stand a chance. Releasing news during periods when the press could be short of stories such as between Christmas and New Year may also be fruitful. (Bland, Theaker and Wragg 2005, p. 67)

Bland et al also suggest that timing the release of spin so that the news ‘breaks’ over a weekend can be a means to gaining publicity as journalists

may be busy investigating other news stories and there is little time for checking. Traditionally, Mondays are busy times in newsrooms for sub-editors and editors who have to plan for the week’s flow or stories and be prepared for staff shortages after a the weekend.19

Added to this is the over-riding objective of editors to be accountable to commercial managers in ensuring viability of the newspaper through maintaining readership levels. As Barker (2007, p. 11) states: this can be compounded further by ‘editorial managers and the commercial managers above them rather than individual reporters’ due to the possibility or fear of falling circulation or ratings’.

The increasing number of journalists opting out of newspapers in preference PR-related jobs means that journalists increasingly need to develop and hone their strategies for penetrating what lies beneath the spin. This in itself is no easy task, especially when confronted with a media release that meets all the criteria of a news story written in-house by a journalist. Hunt stresses that public relations people have a sophisticated understanding of how both journalists and the reading public will react to content, and he promotes his business to real-estate industry clients on the basis of this capacity.

Even before he writes media release, Hunt tries to anticipate newsroom expectations.

I try to instil in my staff knowledge of what the journalist wants and this involves suggesting a specific news angle that is interesting and then analysing and interpreting the information for credibility in the market place. (Hunt, 2008, interview)

Hunt’s approach is similar to MacDermott’s (2008, interview). She says she ‘only prepares press releases that have a strong news angle, fresh news and plenty of details including financial aspects and, wherever possible, research’.

19 This observation arises from having to deal with work flows on the sub- editor’s desk in a newspaper on a Monday.

MacDermott, who worked as a property writer for The Australian Financial Review for 11 years, assesses newsworthiness in the same manner as she did when working for the national newspaper.

It needs to include breaking news, direct quotes from a spokesperson which has meaningful detail in them and figures (e.g. sale prices, yields, rental terms) with the primary source of the information coming from the client and related parties. (MacDermott, 2008, interview)

Another successful strategy Hunt employs is to present a media release to the newsroom with a high quality photograph if he feels this is necessary to make the release more enticing or to give readers a clearer vision of the story. For example, if the media release pertains to a new multi-million dollar property development, it could be accompanied by an artist’s impression or a photograph of the developer with a model of the project. In Hunt’s opinion this adds more leverage for the media release to be published, especially since newsrooms are often short staffed not just of journalists but also of photographers.

As Hunt and MacDermott come from strong newsroom backgrounds, they have an innate understanding of how to present media releases in a positive light and are clever enough to know to conceal ‘items’ that might detract from a commercial objective. This poses the question as to how journalists can develop their own strategies for penetrating what lies behind or, indeed, if there is anything ‘hidden’ requiring them to delve into further to gain a different news perspective.

Big Bucks ‘Talk’

Dickie (2002) argues that while journalists are receptive to spin, especially good spin that leads to news-breaking stories, there is an imbalance in the area of ‘new’ news simply because it is the big organisations who can afford to pay spin doctors to get their story in front of the news desk. Dickie implies that even bigger and better stories may lie hidden underneath the spin or

there are other stories that may not reach the newsroom because not all companies or other sources can afford the expensive services of a PR practitioner.

Burton (2007, p. 239) also refers to the power of manipulating debate stating: ‘Increasingly, the role of PR is to ensure that those who can their expensive services – predominantly corporate and government agencies – dominate debate over critical public policy issues’. This also can viewed as an important observation for real estate journalism, as the big spenders are big companies with big PR budgets. Content analysis of real estate pages of The Courier- Mail and Gold Coast Bulletin over the period of this research revealed a continual ‘feed’ of news stories on major development projects, large development corporations and industry comment from these big real estate market players (see Chapter 6).

The power of the ‘big buck’ puts at risk smaller operators in the real estate market who may a newsworthy story to tell but no funds to pay PR. Unlike PR they also may not understand how newsrooms operate and how they can gain publicity. Without the services of a professional PR practitioner or a media liaison officer, these smaller companies may attempt to prepare their own media alert or release only to have the rough, unprofessional looking text go ‘unnoticed’ within a busy newsroom.

Dickie implies that today’s journalist needs to make a conscious effort to seek out stories through their own investigations rather than relying on spin. This means ‘going back on the beat’ through building independent contacts away from the PR agencies and media units and reverting back to the core of their profession of seeking out their own stories and developing a ‘sixth sense’ or a ‘nose’ for following up a newsworthy story. The question arises to whether journalists would work to ensure a greater ‘ownership’ of real estate news if they were given the time and increased staffing levels, or whether they would continue to rely on media releases presented newsrooms by the increasing number of spin doctors.

Accuracy and Credibility

Real estate spin sits in two areas when it comes to accuracy. If the spin emanates directly from a skilled PR practitioner as mentioned above, the newsroom is more likely to respect the source. This was revealed from personal observation within Queensland’s the two largest newspapers, The Courier-Mail (August 2007) and the Gold Coast Bulletin (January 2008) where the property editors delved through a copious amount of media releases daily to determine what was useable.

Hele stated that accuracy can be a real problem with media release content when the writer often does not properly understand the subject, an example being complicated, specific research data which can easily be mistakenly misrepresented in the media release. This reflects a need for the source, whether it be a PR practitioner or some other industry representative, to be absolutely accurate in the information provided otherwise there will be a future problem with the way that journalists perceive the source’s credibility. In other words, checking the facts is fundamental to both journalism and public relations.

Hele further stated that to ensure absolute credibility and gain a clear understanding of data, it was not unusual for the real estate editor to directly contact the primary source, for example, the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), to attempt to check whether the media release was absolutely correct in its representation of the data.

Research data supplied by those with a vested interest in the real estate market can be a test of credibility, as the news angles often are slanted so there remains a definite need to investigate the data further from other sources such as industry comment to give balance (Hele, 2007, interview).

Hele said that she enforces her own protocol in which currency and accuracy are paramount. The operation of her real estate department differs from those attached to advertising departments. For example, in the case of the annual

Gold Coast Bulletin’s 2007 and 2008 Property and Suburb Guides which are more like an advertorial supplement, data is accepted verbatim primarily because there is no in-house research department to verity the credibility of the information supplied from an outside source.

Despite being part of a small news department within the newspaper, Jensen says she endeavours to personally meet with the primary spin source. She says that she sees a need to develop a specific news angle that may have been overlooked and also personalise the story, sometimes with a profile, to increase reader interest and the story’s credibility. Telephone calls play an important role in both The Courier-Mail and Gold Coast Bulletin’s newsrooms in confirming spin information and further establishing relationships between the two parties.

Those primary sources of information that develop these strong relationships with the news desk can only do so after their credibility has been established through firstly, being absolutely accurate in the information they provide, and, secondly, understanding how the editor prefers to receive the information. In these instances both parties benefit from the outcome with the media release or media alert being fresh news and the provider mostly likely gaining a successful outcome for the client. (Hele, 2007, interview)

Hele added that that establishing credible sources from which to obtain credible information was an important component in news reporting. She says this is an aspect that is often overlooked due to pressures of tight newsroom deadlines and the copious amount of information submitted from outside sources that has to be filtered.

In switching caps from a real estate journalist to that of a real estate reader, Jensen said from a personal perspective she closely monitors housing affordability (with the intention of buying) and is especially observant of spin dished out from government, industry and PR sources only to discover there are credibility issues with these media releases and alerts (Jensen, 2007,

personal interview). Thus Jensen claims to have both a personal as well as a professional interest in vetting spin. However, my observation of her work practices revealed her time mostly was spent on following up on PR spin rather pursuing original news angles, so I am not entirely convinced that she can claim to be a critical observer in the overall picture.

Fellow journalist, Vanessa De Groot purchased a house with her brother. Like Jensen, she claims she keeps a close watch on the credibility of news releases from industry and PR sources. She states readers need to receive accurate information and not be exposed to spin that has not been checked by the journalist as detailed previously (De Groot, 2007, interview).

De Groot’s and Jensens’ definition of how journalists check the credibility in news reporting seems to be more diluted than the approach of Kounalakis, Banks and Daus, who say:

Credibility is the only currency of a free press. The press can only increase the absolute worth of this currency through diligently applying journalistic principles and practices: weighting the news value of stories in an informed and responsible way, maintaining an editorial independent voice, pursuing fair and accurate reporting, and providing timely delivery and distribution. Credible gathering and dissemination of news all boils down to timelines, fairness and accuracy, openness, and news value. (Kounalakis, Banks and Daus, 1999, p. 83)

A Case of Trust

Similar to Hele, Rogers he says he has established trusted sources from outside the newsroom. Due to his on-going dialogue with these sources, media releases submitted are in the style preferred by his department, with the priority being ‘freshness’. In his evaluation, he said most of the media releases are written by spinners with newspaper experience. This is reaffirmed by Pearson and Patching (2008, p. 11) who cited Phillips’ (2002, p. 32) survey ‘that more than half of those surveyed in his PhD research in

Australia had previously been journalists’. Again, from my observation, both Hele and Rogers and their staff spend many hours daily on the telephone talking with their sources outside the newsroom about the information that has been sent to them.

Hele also stated that it was not unusual for her department to develop a real estate story from an advertising brochure. An example of this was a ‘For Sale’ brochure for the sale of a shopping centre in Toowoomba obtained by Hele from outside the newsroom. Using the contact information on the brochure, Hele contacted the selling agent for further information and subsequently wrote a half-page story which was published with the photograph from the brochure (The Courier-Mail, 2007, p. 86).

Avoiding Bad Spin

Tiffen (1989, p.66) blames the pressures of deadlines and space for the shortcomings of news because there is a propensity to fill newspapers with PR-driven content. Grattan (1998, p. 41) expands this idea further by observing that an editor ‘requires a very good filing system, and a very good monitoring procedure’ to maintain news integrity and ensure editors do not ‘swallow’ the spin and reproduce chatter or bad spin.

While a good monitoring system may be in place, it still does not address the issue of whether the spin is good or bad or if the ‘little person’ or source is overlooked through lack of investigative newsgathering by real estate journalists. If editors and journalists continue to rely so heavily on spin and dismiss other sources or investigation outside the big PR companies and the big spenders, it could be seen that they are jeopardising newsworthy credibility. The editor has an obligation to ensure all sources are given a fair run if the topic has news value20 and thus avoid using bad spin.

20 See Appendix 1 for Definition of News Value

Rogers says he has serious issues with those who have difficulty in not presenting media releases in the manner most acceptable to the newspaper. Rogers claims to be quite trusting of the quality of the information presented by a known reliable and credible source but says the news desk rarely uses information from an unknown source. Sadly, this could reflect the possibility that bad spin from a large ‘spinner’ could permeate real estate news. He believes in the importance of paying courtesy to the provider of credible, factual information as it purports to be (Rogers, 2008, interview). In attempting to avoid bad spin, Rogers states:

We like to get the PR people on the phone and discuss the direction of the story with them, offer suggestions on what we would like to see contained in the story and, very often, this may mean that the original story presented to the newsroom evolves into a story with a totally different news angle. (Rogers, 2008, interview)

On the other hand, if no such relationship exists between the journalist and the spinner, there is the possibility that the spin will work against the desired objective of seeking positive promotion as the journalist ‘digs’ for a different storyline. Alternatively, the real estate editor might dismiss the spin totally if there is an overload of spin in the newsroom on that day.

To ensure that The Courier-Mail does not replicate similar media releases but is able to offer information of new relevance, the newspaper uses a cross- referencing program within its database. This in-house computer checking system is a useful ‘tool’ that allows the real estate editor to discover if the media alert has already been used or published before and determine whether there is any further news value21 (in cases where there may have been a previous alert) to the media release which may require further news investigation.

21 See Appendix 1 for Definition of News Value

In my content analysis of The Courier-Mail’s real estate news section, I found that Hele and her team had printed a story on a property for sale, a tavern in Toowoomba, and several weeks later had reported on its sale. This shows where the initial media alert had been followed up with a secondary story – good news practices to have in place to give readers a complete ‘picture’ of the story.

Spin often can be viewed as a revolving door as it can arrive at different news desks in different ways. The spin might be accepted readily if the spinner meets the newsroom’s benchmark, but the revolving door also can be shut just as quickly if it does not meet these benchmarks such as in the case of the small operator who does not have the knowledge or funds to pay PR as mentioned previously.

Hele and Rogers both indicated that when the media releases or media alerts were from unknown or unreliable sources and were poorly written, then they most likely are discarded. At best, the information may be set aside for further investigation during slow news periods if there is the inkling of a story hidden under flowery superlatives and obvious advertising ‘chatter’. By ‘chatter’ I mean a direct advertising or promotional message created purely to attract free publicity for a business, product or service, with little or no real news value.22

22 See Appendix 1 for a definition of News Values.

CHAPTER 5 IMPACT OF ECONOMIC CLOUT

Just as political parties have become more sophisticated in media agenda setting, the same could be said for the impact and power of spin on real estate news. Large organisations with big media budgets to employ PR practitioners either in-house or independent PR organisations, have a higher degree of power to promote their product through advertising and inter-related editorial.

As was mentioned previously, my examination of the real estate sections and general news sections of The Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin over an extended period found that there is a consistent flow of stories about the same product or about a specific company, although the stories have a different spin or news angle attached to them to give readers a fresh style of editorial. This does not apply to the advertising-driven sections where the same advertorial is repeated on various occasions.

In my content analysis of the real estate sections of both newspapers in March 2007, 2008 and 2009, I found a continual flow of editorial stories relating to real estate developments. These included Robina Land Corporation’s Robina Town Centre and Riverwalk precinct, Hope Island Resort, Sanctuary Cove, Calypso Bay, Noosa Sanctuary, Ephraim Island, Coomera Waters, the Ray Group’s Salt and Casuarina projects, Stockland’s Riverstone Crossing, Forrester Properties South Central Apartments and Nifsan’s Emerald Lakes. This is only a small sampling of residential projects and developers’ names constantly appearing in the real estate editorial pages of both newspapers.

In some cases, there were up to five different stories on a specific project featured during one month. From this analysis, it became obvious that developers with big budgets allotted specifically to their media units or PR houses were maintaining a strong presence in the newspapers despite a

massive change in the property market affected by the global economic downturn of 2008-2009.

These and other real estate ‘giants’ play a significant factor in the quality of lifestyle for those living in South East Queensland by ploughing big dollars into the economy through housing and property development, infrastructure and employment. Accordingly, it is newsworthy for their projects to be the focus of real estate news in both a positive manner as well as coming under the scrutiny of the media in their property market dealings – and this is the role of journalism in democracies.

Repetitive reference to such companies as Devine Limited, the Ray White Group, Stockland, Australand and Robina Land Corporation (RBL) points to evidence that spin from these ‘big spenders’ is strongly shaping the content of the real estate news we read today. While many of these ‘big players’, and their contracted PR houses, may be shaping much of the real estate news we read, real estate editors have a responsibility to remain impartial to the spin. Or, by choosing to adopt a more investigative approach to the contents of a media release from a ‘big player’, they can maintain a greater degree of professional credibility as well as social responsibility to their readers.

Noticeably, large organisations such as those mentioned above also accounted for the greater percent of real estate advertising in both newspapers although most of this advertising was placed in the early general news sections and scattered throughout the weekday issues as well as Saturday editions. While it was difficult to establish an exact correlation between specific advertising and editorial, unlike advertorial features where the editorial relates directly to advertising content, there was noticeable reference in editorials to many of the projects advertised. The style of editorial often incorporated comment from developers or, in the case of the Gold Coast Bulletin, had a lifestyle twist where the storyline focussed on personalities such as home owners living in a specific area or property.

Real estate news in The Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin also is being shaped by specific research data generated by such industry groups as the REIQ, HIA, UDIA, RP Data Australia and independent property analysts who offer specific information on, for example, property prices, demographics of suburbs, historical property information on growth and upcoming trends. This is not necessarily a bad thing as there seems to be no obvious commercial agenda behind the spin.

These sources offer serious appraisal of the property market and its current status thus giving an insight into what is happening, where it is happening and how it could affect the reader. This fits with the statement of Jensen who says she is an avid reader of such information. As indicated previously, smaller newsrooms, the demand for profitability by newspapers and the small number of journalists allotted to write real estate news at The Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin would make it almost impossible to give readers such a wide variety of fresh news each week, especially researched statistical data.

How To Do Spin Well

Regardless of the content focus, the evolution of spin has become an art form, and a growing one at that, which permeates throughout the entire newsrooms of both newspapers used in this research. While some editors may see this as a problem for the newsgathering processes, Tiffen (2008) says ‘the media is a space that must be filled’ and that it becomes necessary to ‘use the spin the keep the space filled’. Because editors rely so heavily on spin to develop their news stories and fill space, knowing how to do spin well can mean success or failure for the PR practitioner.

Spin doctors need to not only know their ‘trade’ backwards but also how to build relationships with newsrooms. For those spin doctors who are not former journalists with newsroom experience, there is an abundance of information and guidelines available on how to prepare good spin. These can be found in various studies by academics, within tertiary courses for journalism, marketing and public relations and corporate communication guides such as Johnston

and Zawawi’s edited Public Relations Theory and Practice (2004), Bernard McKenna et al.’s Corporate Communication Effective Techniques for Business (2007) and Bland et al.’s Effective Media Relations: How to Get Results (2005). Similar information also can be found via the internet in commercial ‘How To’ guides such as Dan Crowther’s 101PublicRelations.com blog website which has a multitude of online offerings on this topic although I would not place high value on the latter as it is difficult to define the credibility of the source.

As part of this research and to gain a clearer picture of how spin doctoring among other skills is taught in textbook style, I completed a Diploma of Business (Marketing) in 2007 through the Australian Institute of Management. This six-module course covered the topics: Strategic Evaluation and Marketing, Developing a Creative Concept, Maximising Marketing Communications, Advertising – Brief to Creation, Strategic Marketing and Design Persuasive Copy. The course gave an excellent perspective into how journalism, marketing and PR skills are being taught outside the newsroom and tertiary institutions. It also revealed how spin is widespread in the corporate sector which uses it as an essential business tool.

Bland, Theaker and Wragg in Effective Media Relations: How to Get Results (2008) devote five chapters to guiding readers through the spin methodologies of dealing with the media. These include how to understand and target the media including newspapers, develop and deliver a press release that matches the media’s requirements and its audience, promote a message, understanding media resources that could be available to the spinner in the form of features and how to ‘talk’ to the media.

Jane Johnston and Clara Zawawi in Public Relations: Theory and Practice (2004) expand even further on Bland, Theaker and Wragg’s works by defining different media styles, comprehensively explaining the media ‘tools’ than can be used such as paper and e-media kits, examining the relationship between the media and public relations, suggesting guidelines on how to achieve a successful outcome through the use of email/internet, use of photography,

branding and consistency, controlling information and developing a media strategy.

Anthony Frangi and Mandy Fletcher’s So You want Media Coverage… A Simple Guide on How to Get It and How to Handle It (2002) explores other critical areas of how to write spin well and reach the desired target audience by detailing how to source stories and source media, how to make spin stand out and be noticed, and how to handle interviews and media conferences.

The Spinners’ Interests

What can be gleaned from works such as those mentioned points to well- written and properly targeted spin having a role within newsrooms and being acceptable to editors. McDougall says through constant monitoring of all media she is in contact with, she sees there is a high take-up rate of the regular consumer information columns that she writes. This is especially the case with regional dailies often faced with last-minute space to fill just before deadline (McDougall, 2008, interview).

I prepare consumer columns fortnightly which are based around ‘soft’ generic news with dateless information and am regularly surprised at the longevity of these columns. It is not unusual to find that they have been published a year after writing. (McDougall, 2008)

McDougall’s tracking of consumer columns is evidence that what she writes and how she writes it, is acceptable by real estate editors and journalists who recognise the difference between good and bad spin and confirms that spin from an authoritative industry group has acceptable newsworthiness. At the same time it is in McDougall’s interest to ensure that the content of her highly- useable consumer columns meet the criteria of representing the best interests of readers and her employer. As Hunt concedes this can be a challenge for spinners who seek credibility with journalists.

This can become a difficult balancing act for the PR person who, although representing the client and the client’s objectives, still has to maintain close contacts with the newsroom and establish a working relationship with the journalist based on the trustworthiness of the information. (Hunt, 2008, interview)

In the case of McDougall, Hunt, MacDermott and Dean who previously had all worked as journalists in newspaper, their understanding of newsroom processes has given them an edge in knowing how to deliver good spin. Dean’s role is slightly different in that it has a stronger commercial focus. Her knowledge of newsroom practices has allowed her to establish a service that straddles the lines between PR, advertising and newsrooms and is more geared towards copy writing through what she defines her company as a ‘writing bureau’. Dean’s success in this area and the implications for real estate journalism and PR will be discussed further in Chapter 6.

Despite recessionary times, real estate news remains a growing commodity. PR companies such as Hunt’s and MacDermott’s services have a genuine need to be familiar with newspaper practices and write their media alerts and media releases accordingly. The ability to provide competently, professionally written media releases in representing their clients is essential for the profitability of their PR practices.

Regardless of the spinners’ agenda, it is in the best interests of the PR organisation or media unit to have staff who are versed fully in journalism practices and can produce appropriate promotional and newsworthy information that has substance in its content and written in the style preferred by the receptor. This is the case with MacDermott’s media unit where all six staff members were former journalists with newspaper experience.

Two of our staff has property practice and also have been senior journalists writing business and property and another was a former press secretary for a State minister. Six staff in our property practice also are involved in writing investor relations, writing annual reports,

speeches, internal communications, web text, broker presentations and issues management. (MacDermott, 2008, interview)

Unlike MacDermott and her media department, Hunt (2008) readily admits that not all his staff has journalism backgrounds. He said most of his staff was carefully chosen from a variety of backgrounds, including tertiary study, and then groomed within his PR practice to have an understanding of the workings of newspaper newsrooms through an in-house education program.

In this manner, Hunt said he was able to pass on his extensive knowledge and guide his staff in the newsroom disciplines he prefers. He said he had found this approach to be most effective in skilling his staff in methodologies which he found highly effective in gaining publicity and promotion for his real estate clients.

While Hunt’s approach differs from a number of other PR practices where former journalists write specific real estate media releases23, it does allow his staff the advantage of freedom to develop a fresh way to write stories outside the genre of normal newsroom writing style practices. The high acceptance rate of Hunt’s media releases (around 90 per cent) within newsrooms such as the Gold Coast Bulletin could see a new paradigm developing in spin writing. Hunt says, however, that he monitors the writing styles and all media releases have to be passed by him before being submitted to the newsroom (Hunt, 2008, interview).

So what makes Hunt’s media releases different and account for their high take-up rate? He believes this stems from his extensive knowledge of the real estate market, developed during the many years he worked as a senior journalist before establishing his own PR business and specialising exclusively in real estate. This includes his capacity to provide easily comprehendible renderings of complex statistical data.

23 This observation arises from having worked for and with several PR practices and within real estate departments of newspaper newsrooms.

While not wanting to denigrate his peers, he says many younger journalists working in today’s newsrooms simply do not have this knowledge and are not skilled enough to analyse complex real estate data. ‘There is a lot of speculative information out there that is not always accurate and this is being fed into newsrooms; recognising the difference becomes a balancing act’. (Hunt, 2008, interview).

Gathering from the success in the take-up rate of Hunt’s media releases within newspapers, the movement of journalists into PR could drop significantly in the future if specialist writers are groomed in the manner Hunt has adopted in preference to employing former journalists. A similar scenario exists with Dean (2008) who also admits that her staff comprised a mix of journalists and others studying various fields of media at university or simply effective writing courses. Hunt still pursues the theory that trained PR practitioners must know what journalists want. He pursues the general methodologies of encouraging his staff on how to firstly understand the topic and then write a good media release in a manner that will be accepted by the newsroom. Dean has adopted a different path with a more commercial approach which could well set a benchmark for newspapers to pursue for profitability.

Good Spin

So how do you write a good media release? If the information is to be presented as a media release, it needs to be succinct, spell out the facts quickly and accurately and in a manner that the real estate editor or journalist immediately can make a judgement as to its newsworthiness.

Hele (2007) admits that she prefers media alerts written in bullet point form, while Rogers (2008) is more receptive to more expansive media releases containing more information which can be polished into feature-style stories that often take up two pages when combined with high-end photography. Well-written media alerts are usually one page, short and ‘snappy’ and simply state the facts – the ‘what, when, where’ scenario plus contact information

allowing the real estate editor to follow up and seek more details thereby gaining greater ownership of the story.

As previously stated, there are numerous study guides available on how to write for the media. These guides clearly set out how to frame how the media release is written and presented. For example, Bland et al (2008, p. 74) set out certain rules for successful media release writing, interestingly in the bullet form preferred by Hele. They suggest:

• A single A4 page is the ideal length; • Unnecessary and pointless phrases such as ‘announces’ or ‘is please to announce’ should be avoided; • Two inches should be left at the top for the newspaper sub-editor to write instructions to the printer and to add a headline. There should be one-and-a-half inch left-hand margin for the editor’s amendments and text should be double-spaced; • Always date the release at the top, so the news editor can see the story is current; • A short, eye-catching headline is needed to attract the attention of a busy news editor; • The main facts must be included in a short first paragraph. A busy sub- editor will cut from the bottom. The ideal release should still be able to work if only the first paragraph is printed; • Each paragraph should be no more than three sentences, with just one or two for the first paragraph; • Jargon should be avoided whenever possible, especially when writing for the general press; • The release should finish with ‘ENDS’ to avoid confusion; • A contact name and both daytime and out-of-hours telephone numbers should be included at the foot of the release;

While Bland et al.’s suggestions mostly confirm my own approach to writing media releases as a specialist in this field, I believe the approach is outdated due to the growing sophistication of PR methodologies. In particular, the third

bullet point would not be necessary in today’s newsroom as most news editors do not have the time to write instructions. The newsroom editor’s skill today is to quickly assess the media release and, if deemed newsworthy, simply hand the release to the journalist to follow up and elaborate on its contents or arrange time for a person-to-person interview.24 Once the story has been written by the journalist, it is then returned to the editor of sub-editor for proofing, writing the headline and presenting to the layout editor as observed at The Courier-Mail. At the Gold Coast Bulletin, the editor or sub- editor often handles proofing, writing the headline and laying out the story in the allotted page space.

Bullet points four, five and six form the very core of writing a successful media release today as they instantly reveal currency, direct attention to the facts and give the editor an option to place the release immediately on a page if there is a shortfall of stories. If the media release does not contain contact details for the journalist to follow through and obtain more information or additional comment, it most likely will not be used. Bland et al suggest: ‘Only one press release in ten is published by any newspaper, and the proportion which are accepted by a broad spectrum of the press is still lower’ (Bland et al, 2008, p. 73).

Bland et al.’s observations (2008, p.78) reaffirm the importance of writing the release in the inverted pyramid style25. This concurs with my own approach in that the media release must have a punchy introduction to ‘grab’ the news editor’s eye. The media release then should have an informative middle section containing the facts, and an ending that ties in with the start and middle section but can be cut from the bottom. The first paragraph, in particular, and even the headline, is the key to overall acceptance or rejection of the media releases.

24 This observation arises from my own experience in having to handle a multitude of media releases within a newsroom on any one day. 25 See Appendix 3: The ‘Inverted Pyramid’ p.120.

Bad Spin

Media releases, in particular, that are written in a flowery tune with an overload of superlatives, contain generalisations or are lengthy often are dismissed by editors (although not necessarily in the case of Rogers) who do not have the time to shift through copious amounts of words of little or no substance. A good PR practitioner, especially one with a journalistic newsroom background, knows the importance of catching the editor’s eye immediately by presenting the major point of the media release within the first few words or the headline. This fits with Tiffen’s view that:

Skilled PR strategists know that news headlines and ‘lead’ sentences will highlight the most dramatic or ‘hardest’ aspect of a story. A definite promise, a specific development or a direct allegation will always take precedence over, for example, a statement of principles. (Tiffen, 1989, p. 80)

Over-zealous spin doctors producing a constant flow of spin can lead to a glut of information arriving at the newsroom. While accepting, even encouraging this constant flow of spin as it can offer an economical form of news gathering, editors also can show antipathy towards a glut of regurgitated news and quickly discard the release. This is especially the case with poorly written releases which have little or no newsworthiness and do not meet professional journalism standards as previously outlined. It takes a highly trained professional editor’s eye and judgement skills to determine if the spin is newsworthy or has been rehashed simply to achieve an agenda of gaining additional publicity. This would indicate that it would be in the best interests of the producers of spin to ensure they do not go down the writing path of producing extra ‘puff for promotion’.

Tiffen (1989, p. 61) states that:

Competitive influences work somewhat erratically on the responses to others’ exclusives. News organizations are reluctant to ‘re-do’ stale

news unless there are fresh developments or details to report even though their particular audience may not have seen the story.

Rogers, like Tiffen, also is highly critical of PR people who continually ‘recycle’ the same news by providing previously published information which has been altered to give it a slightly different news angle while the core focus of the release remains the same. To ‘polish’ the release even further, Rogers said the addition of a different photograph accompanying re-worked editorial would not be enough for him to warrant reusing the ‘re-jigged’ release (Rogers, 2008, interview).

To be successful, a spinner has to take control of the news material and treat it according to the requirements of the news editor. For this reason, the PR practitioner has a vested interest to ensure that the content of the media releases presented to the newsroom, in particular in relation to real estate news, is always newsworthy and never repetitious. A PR-newsroom working relationship needs to be developed between both parties so that each feels they can call on each other.

To some extent this was attempted in 2006 when John Lloyd wrote in his London Financial Times column, The Truth About Spin, that:

A small controversy erupted about a company called Editorial Intelligence, created by public relations entrepreneur Julia Hobsbawm with the intention of bringing together PRs and journalists - in part to make a business through the first paying to seek to influence the latter; in part to break down the barriers between the two branches of the profession. It was denounced by some commentators as a conflict of interests. (Lloyd, 2006)

Lloyd (2006) stated that he believed that ‘public relations and journalism do not inhabit separate worlds’ and that ‘truth does not reside on one side only’. He also states:

Journalism cannot understand itself unless it understands what public relations had done to it; how murky and grubby the relationship can become, with the convenience of both, and how the relationship might work to the benefit of citizens who should be told something like the truth. (Lloyd, 2006)

To some degree, Hele, Thompson and Rogers have developed what I call ‘editorial intelligence’ in their field of real estate reporting where they often find they require fresh news urgently to fill space and do not have an adequate number of journalists available or the resources to do so. This is when they would turn to good spin.

When The Spin Is Not Working

For PR integrity, spinners need to maintain constant dialogue with news editors and be ever vigilant to the ethics of their profession. While they also have a responsibility to their client to keep the flow of media releases they prepare in tune with the demands of the news desk, they need to be conscious of the ‘push for purse’ scenario. In other words, if spinners are not achieving the desired promotion of their client’s perspectives and agendas, they need to analyse their own approach to the media and how they represent themselves to the media rather than simply resorting to other, less desirable tactics to appease the client’s needs.

This could mean becoming inventive and proactive, but not at the cost of ethical constraints. Spinners may choose to supply the media release to an advertising-driven feature or special promotional liftout such as those that regularly appear in The Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin. Both newspapers publish weekly and occasional real estate features where spinners can divert their media release away from the news editor secure in the knowledge they are not endangering the relationship they may already have established with their client and compromise their own ethical standards. These features are commonplace in today’s news media which relies on them for revenue outside general advertising.

Excellent examples of the use of these features when the PR’s client is prepared to pay for the advertising are The Courier-Mail’s and Gold Coast Bulletin’s Saturday Home features. Both have a similar theme where advertising space of a particular size or for a particular period is purchased by the advertiser on the proviso that it will be accompanied with advertorial within the same section. While some journalists see these ‘features’ of little value, they continue to be attractive at a commercial level, especially when combined with what I would call info-editorial or editorial that reveals factual items of interest but is supported by advertorials and advertising to bolster page numbers. Chapter 6 looks at this phenomenon in a content analysis of four annual editions of the annual Gold Coast Bulletin’s Property Guide from 2005 to 2008.

Another successful method allowing the spinner to seize every opportunity to present media releases or provide ‘unbiased’ comment on behalf of a client is to provide copy for numerous other special real estate features with specific news and sales agendas such as those which regularly appear in the Gold Coast Bulletin. These include the newspaper’s annual Property Guide Urban Development Review (linked to the UDIA), Display Homes and Land and the Housing and Construction Awards (linked to the Master Builders’ Association).

It is within these features that spinners can prepare any number of media releases pertaining to real estate and almost be assured that the spin will be used either verbatim, partly rewritten or with added comment. The features mentioned will form the basis for a content analysis presented in Chapter 6 of this thesis, in particular examining the editorial shift from real estate news reporting to totally spin-driven content for profit.

Individuals or organisations that do succeed in pushing masses of repetitious spin through editorial processes may ironically find that this will work against their promotional agenda with regular and avid readers of real estate news. In this case, these readers could become bored with seeing repeated content in the newspaper and, instead, seek out fresh ‘new’ news. This being the case,

those individual and organisations who continue to regurgitate such stories albeit with a slightly different angle or different photograph, could find that the resulting stories have little credibility with the public and could actually harm the image of the company in the eyes of these readers.

As Tiffen (1989, p. 52) states: ‘Something is hot news today, but stale next week, and of little interest last week’. Similarly, in real estate news, many readers may become tired of repetitious spin about a specific real estate project. The only trade-off in this scenario could be that those members of the public who only read real estate news sporadically and may not have seen a similar story before, could find the repetitious spin of ‘new’ interest and be totally unaware that the news stems from a recycled source.

Dancing with Spin

Concerns expressed by Dickie and many others are reflected in the symbiotic and yet antagonistic relationship between spinners and journalists. Drawing from the works of Fishman (1980), Gandy (1982), Gans (1979), Rosten (1937) and Sigal (1973), Shin and Cameron (2004: 401) describe the ‘love- hate relationship between public relations practitioners and journalists…The relationship is an endless ‘dance’, in which practitioners try to manage the news and journalists try to manage the sources in a different direction for their needs’.

This fits with the interviews I have undertaken with real estate editors, PR practitioners and media consultants working within real estate industry sectors over many years as a newsroom journalist and PR practitioner. Almost all of those interviewed admitted it was necessary for them to establish a solid working relationship with each other to serve their own objectives.

Most newspaper journalists and real estate editors said they were reliant on obtaining varied and copious amounts of real estate news from PR and industry-related media units. They acknowledged, however, that when a story

broke that had negative overtones, it was often difficult to gain comment directly from the source due to PR people taking on the role of gatekeepers.

This, they said was frustrating as the investigation was thwarted by the very people who needed to have the newspaper editor ‘on side’. At the same time, as a journalist-cum-PR person, I and no doubt many other PR practitioners, recognise it is in the best interests of clients to be able to deliver the ‘message’ in a the style wanted by the newsroom. As Shin and Cameron (2004) note, the result is an endless ‘dance’ between the two professions.

The management of real estate news and spin can be a cumbersome chore for real estate editors as both Hele and Rogers stated, especially in circumstances where they had to deal with a large influx of media releases and media alerts. Both real estate editors have developed different methodologies to handle this ‘flood’ of information. As was discussed above, Hele prefers to receive media alerts, so that she can quickly assess the topic and judge whether it was newsworthy.

Hele concedes that much of what is sent to her is not newsworthy and is discarded. In this instance, a certain degree of antagonism develops between Hele and the information source. Hele says, however, that she has been ‘mostly successful in educating her sources outside the newsroom’ to supply real estate information in the manner she prefers. This helps her to establish and sustain a workable and harmonious relationship between both parties (Hele, 2007, interview).

Unlike Hele, Rogers said he was less likely to discard information quickly and has become quite trusting of the sources who supply him with media releases. Like Hele, he has adopted the approach of educating his outside sources, mostly PR practitioners with journalism experience, on how he prefers to receive media releases.

Although he receives less media releases daily compared to Hele, Rogers said the increased content of what he did receive went a long way to filling his

allotted weekly editorial space without too much further investigation as long as he was ‘comfortable’ with the source. Rogers stated that one PR source in particular always was assured of gaining media coverage as there existed a good working relationship between both parties as he was working, albeit at arm’s length, with former journalists who had moved in the real estate PR field. While Rogers seemed to have complete trust in this source, the question of credibility arises both within Rogers’s judgement and what could be perceived as the commercial interests of the PR source.

My content analysis of the real estate sections of The Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin found that spin often was presented in such a manner so that it could be altered to allow journalistic ‘freedom’ to develop different story lines of topical interest possibly to increase newsworthiness. For example, the media release could contain reference to other contact sources thus encouraging the journalist to seek out further information to expand the story.

This could even mean redefining the original spin story and developing a different news angle which, in the case of Rogers, could lead to the story being expanded to have greater lifestyle reader appeal.26 In this way the spin is ‘milked’ on the initiative of the newsroom but with initial assistance from the PR source. Of course, PR people presenting media releases in this manner also run the risk of the story being redefined to work against the desired outcome. How to do this is taught in some of the ‘how to’ journalism textbooks.

While The Courier-Mail uses spin from media alerts to develop newsworthy real estate stories of genuine reader interest through follow-up mostly by telephone to the parties involved, the Gold Coast Bulletin property writers actively pursue spin ‘leads’ through personal on-site interviews and extensive photography to enhance multiple two-page spreads. In these examples, spin could be deemed good journalism so long as it is newsworthy and, perhaps,

26 This observation is personal and arises from having discarded, edited and written real state stories and advertorials in newsrooms and advertising features departments.

include important topics or issues that would not be reported if the journalists’ attention had not been brought to the story through spin sourcing. From personal experience, well-written media releases on topical not previously reported news can provide a refreshing read, especially when the journalist has time to develop the topic further.

These strategies for using spin thus comply with the Australian Press Council’s Reporting Guidelines (1999), which state that the APC ‘is a strong supporter of editorial discretion to determine what, from a proliferation of material, is in fact newsworthy. This discretion, provided it is bona fide, must remain that of the newspapers’. It further stated, ‘the Council strongly supports the freedom of newspapers as entities freely to determine the selection of news provided that it is bona fide and in accordance with the principles’.

Filtering Spin

In filtering spin, Hele said it was The Courier-Mail’s policy to telephone everyone if an email or news release was deemed newsworthy enough to seek further information with the objective to publishing the story. While this may seem like a lot of work for a small department, Hele has made it a policy to discuss most emails every morning with the journalists working in her department in a mini-editorial meeting and encourage comment from her colleagues.

By requesting that sources send information via email, no matter how brief the email, Hele said she was able to deal with the large volume of different story lines that crossed her desk and to act on them immediately with a follow-up phone call, or place them in a ‘to follow up’ folder on her computer. On some occasions, Hele said that the news value27 of the story would be dictated by space availability or time restraints on a particular day.

27 See Appendix 1 for Definition of News Value

One of the biggest frustrations, said Hele, was receiving poorly written media releases where the writer had not used the inverted pyramid28 approach, i.e. not placing the vital news point at the beginning but ‘hiding’ it further within the release. This differs from the observations of Franklin and his colleagues who state: ‘Reading news releases backwards is recommended practice in many newsrooms – the most interesting bit is often right at the end’ (Franklin et al, 2005, p. 172).

As has been discussed earlier, Rogers has different priorities to Hele because he publishes longer stories with generous use of photographs designed to capture the reader’s attention through depicting a specific lifestyle. These real estate editorials are similar to magazine journalism, especially travel and lifestyle publications, where the focus is to give readers an opportunity to immerse themselves in the story and ‘dream’ what could be rather than what is.

By encouraging his PR sources to submit media releases with a lifestyle ‘feel’, Rogers is able to present readers with stories that have a certain passiveness (even weakness) about them. My content analysis revealed that in many instances, they are closer to feature stories rather than a ‘straight to the point’ type factual news stories. This type of story also fits with the layout of the Gold Coast Bulletin’s real estate section where, as previously tabled, there is an abundance of advertising on a Saturday and can be offset visually with longer stories and two-page editorial spreads.

The Advance of Advertorials

At the more commercial level discussed previously, much of the real estate spin that does not meet the criteria of newsroom editors is rapidly becoming the backbone of specialised feature departments attached to advertising departments. These advertising feature departments, which are quite separate to other editorial feature departments within newspapers, are driven

28 See Appendix 3: The ‘Inverted Pyramid’ p.120.

by a commercial agenda to placate advertisers who want to see ‘bang for their buck’. That ‘bang’ is usually in some form of advertorial which the advertiser or their PR house may have supplied to supplement an advertisement. When advertorials are published, the Australian Press Council states in its Reporting Guidelines that it must clearly be identified by such terms as ‘advertisement’, ‘advertising feature’, ‘special feature’, ‘sponsored feature’ or similar ‘so that readers are not led to believe that their content is based on editorial views values free of commercial influences’ (2005, No. 266).

American journalist Elizabeth Lesly (1991, NP) states that because ‘the real estate industry is notoriously hypersensitive to what it regards as negative press, real estate sections historically have treated subjects delicately’. She cites Peter Drier’s (director of housing for the Boston Redevelopment Authority) observation that: ‘In general, real estate reporters have not viewed themselves as investigative or consumer-orientated journalists… and such weak-kneed coverage has helped foster a symbiotic relationship between the media and industry’. Drier further states that:

Some newspaper publishers have even handed real estate sections over to their advertising departments, making them public relations kits for the industry. Whichever the case, consumers are deprived of the critical information they need to make intelligent choices when buying a home. (Lesly, 1991, NP)

While Lesly’s article is dated, it does reflect what has become practice in more recent times at both The Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin. In Dean’s case, her role is to garner advertorial copy to complement advertising sold where this ‘extra’ in the form of an advertorial has been used as a sales pitch.29 It is within this public sphere where I believe PR and journalism crosses the line in condoning commercially-driven spin as an attempt to confer credibility on what is published.

29 This observation arises from personal observation working within a newsroom during slow news days and as a public relations practitioner supplying newsrooms with commercially-driven publicity.

From my content analysis of the annual Gold Coast Bulletin’s Property Guide (discussed further in Chapter 6), results showed that such stories often regurgitated ‘stale’ news presented within a feature story, albeit with a specific focus or ‘hook’. In fact, this Guide, although transformed from one of researched real estate news (2005/2006) to one of almost total advertorial content obtained from media releases from advertisers (2007/2008) has an approximate Australia-wide readership of 112,000 with a further approximate 5,000 readership30 through Gold Coast real estate agents as one of their main points of references when dealing with clients.31

Advertorials (as opposed to real estate media releases which originate from PR and other sources and are dealt with in real estate newsrooms) have very different origins as discovered through discussions with Dean and through my own exercise in preparing the marketing plan for builder, Andrew Morse’s new home building operation. Dean’s role is one of suppling advertorials on request from the Gold Coast Bulletin’s advertising department where special features, often called advertising promotion, support paid advertising.

Dean is contracted to the Gold Coast Bulletin to provide these advertorials and sees her company more as a writing bureau rather than a newspaper editorial department. She runs her company from premises away from the newspaper and believes this allows her to operate more successfully in preparing up to 80 advertorials a week for various advertising features, many of which involve real estate.

She does not consider her company operates in line with normal PR practices, as all stories generated by her staff are commissioned and published. In generating these stories, it is not uncommon for Dean to ask the

30 This information was provided by Gold Coast Bulletin Real Estate Advertising Manager, Stephen Thompson on 22 December, 2009 31 This observation stems from my personal involvement with the Guide during its editorial production stage which involved in speaking with real estate agents covering the Guide’s research area from northern New South Wales to Beenleigh and west to Beaudesert.

advertisers themselves supply her with advertorials. She and her staff quickly edit these before sending them to the Gold Coast Bulletin’s advertising department for placement in the special promotional features (Dean, 2008, interview).

Dean’s approach is based totally on commercialism with very few checks in place to ensure credibility of the advertorial copy she provides, especially given that she acknowledges that some of her staff has no newsroom experience. As Dean operates her own business which is directly contracted by the Gold Coast Bulletin’s advertising department, there appears to be a paradigm shift where journalism and PR practices meld with commercialism. While not disputing Dean’s professionalism or the service she provides, it is plausible that this emerging grey area could take hold with other newspapers seeking to maintain profitability but with lesser staff and overheads.

Dean (2008) believes there is a void in the communications market for a service such as the one she offers. She states that journalists and PR people often do not want to write advertorials which they view as pure commercialism and yet says there is a demand for this style of writing to support advertising. She added that there are many journalists or those studying to become journalists who do not want to work within a newsroom environment and felt more comfortable writing ‘lighter’ stories that straddle the line between newspapers and magazines.

I believe we have yet to see the true growth of writing bureaus where the advertorial focuses totally on the advertiser’s product or message and the story is not being pitched at the media but to assist the advertiser in promotion. Not only do we write advertorials on behalf of advertisers but we also are involved in working with the newspaper in developing feature promotions concepts. (Dean, 2008, interview)

In ‘testing the waters’ for his new home building business, Morse elected to advertise in the Home section of the Gold Coast Bulletin. This feature is purely advertising-cum-advertorial driven and Morse chose to advertise here

as he was offered ‘free’ editorial to complement his contracted advertising schedule with the newspaper. He viewed the offer as good value for his advertising dollars (the ‘bang for buck’ theory) but did not view the ‘editorial’ as advertorial but more of a news story over which he had control (Morse, 2008, interview).

This revealed to me that Morse, and no doubt many others like him, did not easily distinguish the difference between advertorial ‘news’ including that written by a journalist, and a regular journalistic article. If this is the case, I would suggest the use of advertorials would be an appealing option for specific sections of the public and advertisers who seek publicity in line with their commercial agendas.

In tracking Morse’s real estate promotional agenda, I found that writers working for Dean prepared the advertorial copy from advertisements supplied by Morse. These advertorials had the appearance of being real estate editorial and were presented to Morse for approval prior to publication. In some instances, the writing did not meet journalistic standards.

After being re-written by myself at Morse’s direction, the advertorials were re- submitted for publication and then published verbatim along with an artist’s perspective taken straight from the supplied advertisement of the house design. This could happen because I am a journalist with PR experience, however the experience suggests to me that this method of publishing advertorials is fraught with danger as there appears to be no checks in place in to ensure accuracy and credibility of the story.

While Morse’s advertorials were placed in the Home section of the newspaper and labelled as Advertising Promotion, an information breakout was placed on the same page quoting the editor’s name and contact details, as well as editorial reference to Dean Publications. While it is not uncommon for journalists to write advertorial copy for newspapers, I found the reference to ‘editor’ and ‘editorial’ to be misnomers within the context of the publication and a way to ‘trick’ readers into thinking they are reading normal editorial.

As Eckman and Lindlof (2003) state: ‘Advertorial products are designed to blend with the newspaper’s overall content to increase their effectiveness as marketing vehicles’. They cite Cameron (1994, pp. 37-52) who states: ‘Advertiser-based stories that are presented as editorial content can draw reader attention and carry more credibility than the same information does when presented in recognisable advertising’.

This adds further support to a comparative study between advertorials and traditional advertising by Kim (1995) who ‘found that readers of advertorials were generally unaware that what they had read was actually an advertisement for a product or service’. Eckman and Lindlof in further drawing from the studies of Cameron and Curtain (1996) and Cameron and Ju-Pak (2000) state:

Even labelling advertorials as such is ineffective at informing readers that the editorial-like content is linked to an advertiser. The apparent inability of readers to recognise advertorials conforms to some degree the warnings of postmodern theorists (e.g. Baudrillard, 1983) that ‘unreal’ simulations (e.g. advertising posing as news) could one day blend so convincingly into the fabric of our society that the simulation would supplant reality and thus go unnoticed. (2003, p. 66)

Despite having an advertising agenda, many real estate promotional features such as the annual Gold Coast Bulletin’s Property and Suburb Guide and Home are popular with readers. This is shown by Morse’s decision to launch his business in the Home advertising feature section of the Gold Coast Bulletin where he felt he was gaining an edge by also being given ‘free’ editorial. Real estate agents view the annual Gold Coast Bulletin’s Property

Guide containing its suburb-by-suburb information as marketing ‘tool’ in providing information to clients.32

A Case of Ethics and Profits

When there is a shortfall in checking for advertorial accuracy, the issue of credibility comes into play along with the rules governing truth in advertising as well as journalistic conventions. Have ethical boundaries been crossed by both professions by turning a ‘blind eye’ in allowing the growth of this practice in the pursuit of newspaper profitability? Morse, incidentally, discovered that going down the advertorial path in several different targeted newspapers and magazines did not achieve success for his business. However, from my involvement in this experience, I have concluded that there is an increased blurring of the lines between real estate advertising and editorial with spin seemingly to sit in the middle. This will be discussed further in Chapter 6.

As journalists and PR people grapple with their own issues of ethics and credibility, with what is deemed newsworthy, readership values, representing the best interests of clients, how to write spin and how to make spin acceptable to newsrooms, and building working relationships and trust with each other, another factor comes into play – the profitability of spin for newspaper revenue. From the proliferation of advertorials, advertising supplements, and special advertising promotions constantly featured weekly in The Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin, it is obvious that without these advertising-driven features, revenues would be substantially decreased. Echman and Lindlof discuss this conflict between advertorials and news when stating:

The newspaper business is not a black and white world anymore, if indeed it ever was. Newspapers now try to cope with declining circulation rates and shrinking profit margins by developing content and

32 This conclusion is drawn from personal experience in talking with real estate agents when writing editorial for the 2005 and 2006 guide.

promotional strategies in the “gray area” between news and marketing. (2003, p. 65)

Drawing from Bogart (1995), Eckman and Lindlof (2003) state that advertorial trends grew in the 1980s and have become commonplace today. This fits with my experience when the Gold Coast Bulletin set a benchmark during that period, or even earlier, until the present by creating a specialised ‘news’ section built around real estate spin and advertorials and advertising to garner fresh sources of revenue. At the time these advertorial supplements were prepared by a team of journalists and freelance writers attached to the newspaper’s advertising department and it would not be unusual for this team to produce editorial and advertorial copy up to 60 to 80 pages a week.33

In August 1977, for example, I was responsible for writing a 168-page supplement related to the opening of Pacific Fair Shopping Centre for the Gold Coast Bulletin. At the time this was a major production in itself with a combination of newsworthy editorials and advertorials. Since then special supplements have been refined to meet the demands of providing information of a wide range of topics and events while helping to generate increased advertising revenue. As these supplements or special promotions today sit outside the general news areas of both newspapers, there has been an increased need for writers whether it is journalists-cum-PR people or other writers outside the newsroom.

There also has been a different tactic taken in the presentation of advertorials and spin, especially real estate spin. To give an example of this I refer to observation and content analysis of four editions of the annual Gold Coast Bulletin’s Property Guide.

33 This stems from my time as a journalist and sub-editor employed within this advertising features department where journalists and sub-editors were required to prepare a combination of general news stories specific to a particular feature as well as advertorials for advertisers.

CHAPTER 6 THE SHIFTING SANDS OF REAL ESTATE NEWS

This chapter presents a content analysis of four editions of the annual Gold Coast Bulletin’s Property and Suburb Guide. The purpose is to study the transition of this Guide from a journalism-researched document with a small content of PR spin sourced from real estate journalists-cum PR practitioners to one where almost all the information has been generated from sources outside the newsroom and consists almost totally of real estate spin. The study examines the editorial and spin content, photography, design and layout and seeks to interpret whether the information has high news credibility today or has been downgraded in its readership values and is little more than a marketing tool to boost newspaper profitability.

Background

The Gold Coast Bulletin Property and Suburb Guide had its beginnings in 1995 when the concept was developed as a marketing tool to be featured Australia-wide by the ANZ Bank through publication in major newspapers. At that time, editorial guidelines were developed by journalists working for a PR firm in Melbourne which had the bank as its client. That was the beginning of my involvement with the editorial of the Guide through to 2006.34

A suggested content formula was presented to the Gold Coast Bulletin as well as to Sydney and Melbourne newspaper journalists. Publication of the Guide was paid for by the ANZ bank. Even though journalists were contracted at each newspaper to research and write the editorial to suit the region’s target audience, it was conditional upon guidelines set by the client and vetted by the bank before publication. The Guide was small in comparison to today’s Guide and contained minimal advertising.

34 This observation stems from my involvement in researching and writing editorial for the guide, initially within the newspaper newsroom, and then later as a paid consultant when my communications company was contracted to write, layout and edit the content.

In 1998, the guide changed ‘ownership’ in that it came under control of the Gold Coast Bulletin’s research and advertising departments with editorial and photography outsourced to my communications company where myself and another journalist-cum-PR practitioner were given total control of developing storylines unrelated to any advertising content. I was involved in the research, writing and outsourcing the editorial content and any real estate spin for the Guide from its inception until 2006.

In 2007, the Guide changed again when it was taken ‘in-house’ by the Gold Coast Bulletin’s advertising department. Because the Guide had grown substantially since 2000, the design was revamped by splitting it into two publications, the Gold Coast Bulletin Property Guide and the Gold Coast Bulletin Suburb Guide in 2007. Editorial and statistical suburb data also was changed as real estate spin from PR practitioners representing major advertisers and industry organisations was introduced to fill allotted editorial space.

Statistical data was outsourced to a property research company to fill the separate suburb guide. This previously had been researched by two Gold Coast Bulletin employees, one a specialist in market research and analysis, whose role was to contact real estate agents in all suburb areas over a three- month period, prior to publication, and obtain sales data and determine median house prices. Their role also involved cross-referencing against statistical data provided by various property research companies to form an accurate overall ‘snapshot’ of each suburb for current reader reference. For my content analysis, I have chosen four annual editions of the Guide from 2005 to 2008.

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The Guide

As a journalist, firstly working inside the newsroom and later as a journalist- cum-PR practitioner, I have had a long involvement in preparing the entire editorial content for this Guide. The Guide received the International Newspaper Marketing Award (INMA) presented to News Limited in New York in 2005.

I have chosen to compare the Guide over the four years from 2005 to 2008. Editorial for the two annual Guides for 2005 and 2006 was prepared by myself and another journalist on a contractual basis hence my total knowledge of where the editorial and photography content for these two editions was sourced. The editorial and photography for the other two Guides for 2007 and 2008 were outsourced by the Gold Coast Bulletin to Dean Publications, an independent PR-cum-writing bureau headed by former journalist, Judy Dean, who was interviewed for this thesis.

Dean was forthcoming in detailing how and where she obtained the real estate editorial content for the 2007 and 2008 guides for which she was responsible. She revealed how the Guide had changed its format from that of an independently-researched document to one comprising almost total real estate spin and advertorials supporting advertising. The rationale behind choosing these four years of the Guide’s publication is its Australia-wide readership, heavy promotion of the publication via print and electronic media prior to publication and the heavy reliance of real estate agents to use the Guide as an authoritative reference document when discussing property with clients.

The table below outlines the size, editorial content, real estate spin, advertising content and statistical data of the Guide from 2005 to 2008.

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Table 7. Size and Content of the Guide (2005–2008) (or other suitable title) Year Total No. of No. of Real No. of No. of Other No. of Editorial Estate Spin Advertising Suburb Pages Pages Pages Pages Pages Data Pages 2005 128 24 10.5 64.75 25 3.75 2006 120 20.5 8.25 63.5 25.5 2.5 2007 100 7.5 22 69.5 0 1 2007* 68 1 2 13.5 47.25 4.25 2008 124 10 35 76.5 0 2.5 2008* 64 1.5 1.5 22.75 34.25 4 *Represents the second suburb guide published on the same day sponsored by an advertiser

I argue that the data in Table 7 exposes the evolution of the Guide in the specified four years from one with editorial grounded in journalistic research to one containing real estate spin and advertorial from sources representing advertisers. Throughout this chapter, I will develop the argument that this could be seen as compromising the integrity of the news product in pursuit of profitability. A content and textual analysis of the Guides showed a higher percentage of researched real estate news written in the 2005 and 2006 editions. By contrast, the 2007 and 2008 editions showed:

• A higher amount of sourced real estate spin; • Higher amount of advertising; • Real state spin was written to suit the overall style of the Guides; • The spin was more noticeable, with contact details and reference to websites at the end of many stories; • In some instances the spin crossed over into being advertorial but was not labelled as such; • The editions were printed on higher grade paper stock making them a more appealing investment for advertisers; • Apart from the Suburb Guides, which were all sponsored by an advertiser, the Guides contained no reference to being a special promotion or feature driven by the advertising department;

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• Repetition of similar stories and photos about a specific real estate project from one year to the next; • A strong reliance on industry groups such as the REIQ, HIA and UDIA for the limited informative comment.

The 2005 and 2006 Guides contained a greater percentage of researched editorial, in some instances drawing comment from advertisers but mostly from real estate professionals with no advertising allegiance to the Guide. Real estate industry comment researched for the Guides stated the facts whether good or bad as perceived by those interviewed to maintain journalistic integrity. Real estate spin outsourced from journalists-cum-PR practitioners contained within these two editions still had a high degree of news value35 and was not repetitive from one year to the next. Although only a small amount of outsourced real estate spin was published, this assisted in filling extra editorial space to meet tight deadlines. This fits with the thesis’s previous observations that journalists and editors find themselves having to rely on spin from outside the newsroom to overcome understaffing levels and story shortfalls to meet editorial deadlines.

A textual analysis of the 2007 and 2008 editions of the Guide was problematic to some degree in that the lines between editorial, spin and advertorial were difficult to define. It often fell into the ‘gray area’ which Roel (2007, p. 5) says is not as exciting as the ‘black and white contrasts’, although Eckman and Lindlof state:

While audience research helps us understand how the advertorial achieves effectiveness among readers, we know very little about the organisational process of producing advertorials. Since advertorial products are often created within the same organisation that produces the news products that bear the advertorials, the study of conflicts concerning their status enables us to understand how the priorities of news and business are negotiated. (2003, p. 68)

35 See Appendix 1 for Definition of News Value

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One example was on pages 82 and 83 of the 2008 Guide, where an advertiser had bought a right-hand page (page 83) advertisement and a large story relating to the advertiser’s development and another story about the same region featured on the left-hand page (page 82). Previous experience in the industry suggests to me that this ‘editorial’ was written to support the advertising and it appears to have been generated from within Dean’s department. Readers also were referred to websites and advertiser contact details were printed at the end of the story which, in effect, made it an advertorial even though it was not labelled as such.

In the 2007 and 2008 editions, analysis of industry comment for the Guides was obtained from a variety of sources with the content being more general and ‘hyping’ up the market rather than referring to any negative aspects. This could be viewed as supporting advertising rather than being purely objective journalism of genuine newsworthiness. This contrasted with the 2005 and 2006 editions which contained comment that gave a broader appraisal of the real estate market at the time, including what is known in the industry as negative trending and projections.

As Dean revealed, most of the content of the 2007 and 2008 Guides was either written or outsourced by her staff from advertisers, PR and real estate industry groups. This being the case, the question arises as to how accurate was the published information and did it have genuine news value36? While the real estate spin in the 2007 and 2008 editions may have had some genuine news value, it did not appear to give a clear picture of the overall state of the real estate market. Instead it appeared to support the promotional agendas of those who had elected to advertise in the Guides and were seeking maximum value for their advertising dollar.

Although some of these stories may have held genuine news value to some segments of the property market, their appearance in the Guides was

36 See Appendix 1 for Definition of News Value

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prioritised over news from other sources who may have offered equally if not greater news value but who did not have the backing of advertising clout. I believe this to be an area of journalistic concern if this approach is to continue in the future.

It was interesting also to note in all four Guides analysed, some of the real estate spin written by journalists-cum-PR practitioners such as Hunt, managed to present newsworthy stories of genuine interest despite containing subtle reference to a client or product. Whether these stores were in the public interest could be an issue of contention.

This, I believe, reflects an awareness, even a need, for PR and journalists to maintain newsroom reporting integrity. The stories in the 2007 and 2008 Guides which I would deem to be obvious advertorial, contained little if any real news substance and, basically, were a direct promotion of a product. While obviously there is need for both perspectives, there also arises an area of conflict within this pervasiveness of real estate spin which needs to be addressed by all three parties – newspapers, editors/journalists and PR practitioners before information is placed in the public sphere.

As Hunt conceded earlier, he and others like him, sit at the coalface of developing real estate news of substance to fulfil the needs of their client and, at the same time, meet professional newspaper standards by presenting newsworthy content to editors or acting as a conduit for investigative journalism. In recognising the importance of walking the tightrope between good journalism and PR, the blatant use of mixing professionally written real estate spin with advertorials in specifically titled publications, has the effect of diminishing professional standards. This is a poor reflection on what I believe appears to a growing newspaper practice that is more concerned in pursuing profit.

While it is obvious that the reformatting of the Gold Coast Bulletin Property Guide in the past two years has been a successful tactical move to increase revenue, I believe fundamental issues of credibility, ethical reporting and

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accuracy are emerging. These could compromise the journalism and PR professions as well as a newspaper’s reputation if checks and balances are not put in place to fulfil a watchdog role. This shortfall in checking could have major implications in the future as newspapers look to maintain profitability through advertising-driven features.

I concur with Dickie (2002) who proposes that where journalism may be falling down is that it as it has become too reliant on PR and media moguls with money-hungry agendas. As a result, newsrooms may have insufficient staff and the time to search out genuine, stronger news stories if the journalist is to meet tight deadlines. Dickie says journalists need to develop strategies to reduce their reliance on PR practitioners, otherwise there will be a news imbalance e.g. sources with money vs. those with no money.

We are much manipulated in the media and much too genteel to our manipulators…. Spin creates an imbalance in media access between organisations that have it [spin] and organisations that don't. Journalists must make allowance for this, and consciously correct for the imbalance. (Dickie, 2002, NP)

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CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION

While there has been much scholarly research into other areas of spin in political and government news reporting, very little research has been undertaken in the area of real estate reporting in Australia or elsewhere. This thesis identifies how real estate spin has pervaded newsrooms in South East Queensland to such an extent that its has become eagerly accepted by under-resourced real estate editors who are relying more and more on PR practitioners to help fill copious space in weekly property pages, or at least, provide ‘leads’ from which they can develop stories of reader interest.

Real estate advertising accounts for a major proportion of revenue raised within most newspapers. Thus, these days, the lack of research into where real estate news is being sourced and how it is presented makes this research significant. There is a need to identify newsgathering processes and examine from where news is being obtained and by whom. This investigative process also needs to examine how outsourced news is dealt with by the mass media, not simply real estate, and the impact this is having on the professionalism of journalism and PR practitioners.

Within this scenario, concerns should be raised as to whether ethical boundaries are being breached and if the accuracy or lack thereof in certain styles of newsgathering is being recognised in the public sphere. This raises the question: Is real estate journalism, and in particular special supplements like the Gold Coast Bulletin’s Property Guide, ‘real’ news or just a mix of promotional platitudes to promulgate profitable pursuits?

The genesis of spin is examined in Chapter 2 along with the role of the growing number of spin doctors or media minders who are paid to control and filter specific information, deflect negative news or gain free promotion on behalf of a client. These spin doctors have honed spin into an art form that is partially responsible for setting news agendas, often with little or no further journalism investigation, in today’s newspaper newsrooms.

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Understanding the backgrounds of these spin doctors, many of whom are journalists who have moved out of newsrooms and into PR, the corporate sector or joined government media units, leads to an understanding of how successful spin doctors have become today in ‘massaging’ editors and gaining acceptance and credibility within newspaper newsrooms. Their knowledge of newsroom practices and editorial styles gives them leverage in shaping news agendas, especially real estate news which bulks out Saturday editions of the two newspapers examined in this research – the Gold Coast Bulletin and The Courier-Mail.

Some spin presented to newsrooms does have genuine news value especially if it is fresh and has currency, such as updated statistical data from industry groups and research analysts. However, the dominance of spin simply to ‘fill space’ often sees the regurgitation of old news with a new twist that does not serve the public interest but instead replicates PR promotion of a product or a specific agenda. If the latter is the case, this brings into jeopardy the fundamental essence of newsgathering processes and taints honest and open discourse with the public. This is a matter of serious concern, given the value of the real estate market to the Australian economy, and the significance of real estate purchases to Australian citizens as the largest commercial transactions most will undertake in their lives.

In appraising the exponential growth of spin in the area of real estate news in Chapter 3, there appears to be underlying evidence that newsroom editors specialising in real estate are being pressured to generate as much real estate news as possible to placate both the promotional agendas of advertisers and advertising departments. ‘Ramping up’ real estate features has the two-fold objective of attracting advertising as well as generating reader interest.

My research showed that real estate newsroom resources were being stretched because they were understaffed and yet, still were expected to generate a high proportion of news on a weekly basis. This being the case,

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newsroom editors and journalists appear to becoming more reliant on their established sources outside the newsroom to assist them in providing either real estate media alerts from which they could follow up to develop a story, or submit a comprehensive media release for publication, sometimes almost verbatim.

These newsroom shortcomings revealed there has been substantial growth within the PR industry in recent years with PR practitioners, most of whom are former journalists, far out-numbering newsroom journalists and editors. This brings into play the amount of spin flooding into and being accepted by newsrooms and the roles of real estate editors in dealing with its content.

The Gold Coast Bulletin provides an excellent example of how spin has defined its weekly Saturday real estate section which Rogers states is a ‘bible’ for readers, PR practitioners and advertisers. While no audience research was undertaken for this thesis, the strong circulation figures of Saturday’s Gold Coast Bulletin suggest that readers are accepting of the newspaper’s news content. The study of the Gold Coast Bulletin Property Guide indicates the extent to which real estate spin can form the backbone of property news content and supplements, and how newspapers are benefiting from the prevalence of these outsourced offerings in maintaining profitability.

Content analysis of both newspapers revealed evidence of multiple usage of the same story and similar photography on the same day as well as consistent usage of stories relating to the same topic in both newspapers over an extended time period. While this indicated that PR was ‘doing its job’ in representing its clientele, it also showed a weakness in journalistic endeavour to seek out stories of genuine news37 value that did not evolve from PR sources.

The growth in numbers of PR practitioners, media advisors and specialist corporate media units as opposed to a reduction or, at least, a stagnation of

37 See Appendix 1 for Definition of News Value

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newsroom journalists as discussed in Chapter 4 presents a challenge for the future. At present, this translates into a high degree of power to the spin cycle in real estate reporting. In this case, there emerges a very real possibility that spin optimises journalism’s vulnerability during newsgathering processes and, as such, takes control of news agendas.

The power that PR has in setting real estate news agendas through assisting editors and journalists by providing a constant supply of media alerts and media releases raises questions of objectivity and credibility. The real estate editors interviewed for this thesis recognised that without building relationships with spin doctors to ensure an on-going supply of stories, they would not be able to meet the quota of news storylines required to fill the editorial space allotted to their section each week.

The interdependency that has developed between newsroom journalists and PR brings into question as to who is controlling the facts. Is it the journalist/editor whose responsibility is to present readers with an unbiased story that does not have an underlying promotional agenda? Or is it the PR person or other media minder who has a responsibility to a client or employer?

This becomes a tantalising proposition when journalists and editors are being pressured by time and lack of newsroom resources in one corner of the ring and PR, in the other corner, has an obligation to achieve favourable coverage. In both instances, spin’s impact could have serious implications on news credibility and both parties need to maintain objectivity to ensure democratic outcomes for readers.

While some may view real estate spin as nothing more than an insidious by- product of commercialisation, the upside of this newsgathering avenue is that spin can expose property market events and products that otherwise may go unreported. Readers have different news values38 and spin can be a useful

38 See Appendix 1 for Definition of News Value

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‘tool’ for PR people to promote awareness of real estate news through various newspaper features and supplements.

Well-written spin, as discussed in Chapter 5, successfully bridges the professions of journalism and PR with the latter providing journalists with a conduit to a source they otherwise may not be able to contact. This third party arrangement is convenient for newspaper profitability in today’s rapidly changing media where PR has become much savvier in understanding what some readers want in terms of news content.

A journalist working in PR who has newsroom experience and knowledge of sub-editing skills would have the skills to weave a specific agenda into a rich tapestry of spin through clever use of information gathering and writing to push a vested interest. This is a common phenomenon within real estate writing where it is necessary to maintain a steady flow of information on a particular topic, such as multi-million dollar development projects, but also extends into areas of political, government and industry spin.

In other instances such as with advertorials attached to advertising supplements produced from within advertising departments, the spin content may be ‘lightweight’ in substance as it is purely promotional, but it may be viewed by readers as offering information on a topic of their interest. Repetitious real estate spin about the same property development re-written with a different twist, also, may continue to promote the same product to a target market without the reader realising the PR agenda. Alternatively, industry-sourced demographic and statistical data may provide readers with specific information from a recognised and reliable source upon which they may make a decision to buy or sell property.

The economic clout of large organisations with big PR budgets for real estate advertising also contributes to newspaper profitability and, during times of economic downturn in the property market, big advertising bucks actually help bolster the viability of a newspaper. In such times it makes economic sense for the vested interests of PR to provide a steady supply to newsrooms of

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fresh, well-written spin and to maintain strong working relationships between both professionals for the survival of both professions. Advertorials, often seen as the scourge of good journalism but, at times, also written by journalists, can create the much-needed incentive to attract advertising in specifically themed promotional features as discussed in Chapter 6.

Examined within the Chapter 6 content analysis was the prevalent use today of advertorials which account for a large percentage of real estate ‘news’ that is spewed out to readers. From this analysis, combined with my previous knowledge of editorial newsrooms, advertising features departments and from practising PR, it appears as though an entire industry is evolving through a refining of advertorial-style writing.

I contend that we as readers, journalists and PR practitioners have only really just begun to see the beginnings of this evolution in commercial writing. This is not to mention the future impact of Internet sites such as YouTube which have not been drawn into this thesis. The rise of spin in the 1980s combined with the increase in the number of PR practitioners preparing spin, I believe, will pale in comparison with what lies ahead in credible newsgathering and reporting.

As newspapers and, to a lesser degree, PR agencies, strive to remain viable, it is highly likely that both professions will be confronted with the advent of commercial writing bureaus similar to what Dean has established. As these bureaus most probably will operate independently with their services provided on a contractual basis, they abrogate newspaper owners and PR practitioners of the responsibility of employing additional staff while still being able to function with minimal staff.

I conclude that such service-based writing bureaus will play a significant role in shaping the content of newspapers in the future, albeit through increasing advertorial formats and complying with advertising commercial agendas. With advertising being the main source of newspaper revenue, it is not unrealistic to suggest that advertising departments will seize every opportunity to entice

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advertisers to maximise their investment within advertorial supplements and in special promotional features that are themed to meet a specific target market.

Already we are seeing major newspapers groups such as the Gold Coast Bulletin and The Courier-Mail which come under the umbrella of the News Limited group of companies, combine their Classified advertising into one operational call centre for both newspapers. Would it not be feasible that the same could eventuate for advertorial supplements where advertorial and spin content is outsourced to a writing bureau?

Dean’s capitalisation on filling a commercial ‘news’ void that sits outside both mainstream journalism and PR could be viewed as a way to ‘prop up’ newspaper content while meeting consumer demand. This should sound alarm bells for journalists and PR practitioners alike and raise questions as to whether newsgathering standards including real estate spin will be compromised in the future by commercial agendas.

As the cost of operating a commercial writing bureau and training staff does not fall under the liability of the newspaper or the PR agency, the proposition of outsourcing to writing bureaus becomes commercially attractive. Ultimately, this could lead to a change in newspaper content we know it today.

This potential change in newspaper content could have major implications not simply for readers but for journalists and PR practitioners alike. This research suggests that readers do not always identify the difference between advertorial and editorial even when the story or an entire feature is labelled as such. The same could also be said of journalists and PR practitioners who, during the interview process, did not immediately recognise that specific ‘editorial’ shown to them had its beginnings in spin.

McDougall (2008), in fact, was clearly surprised when informed that the bulk of content from the 2007 Gold Coast Bulletin Property Guide, apart from her contributions, was either re-worked spin or spin used verbatim. As a savvy journalist-cum-PR person and a real estate industry ‘player’ this revealed that

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spin has embedded itself so firmly in such publications that it is becoming difficult for even professionals to recognise its true identity.

Should this scenario continue, even grow, it is plausible that newspapers could begin to set their own commercial agendas outside editorial and journalism boundaries even to the extent of inviting tenders for a service such as Dean’s. If this happens news values39 including spin from ‘trusted’ sources could be exploited, compromised or even downgraded as advertising departments develop a stronger presence within editorial newsrooms.

This being the case, news values40 could be disregarded and multiple conflicts could arise between what is deemed fresh real estate news, stale or regurgitated news evolving from regurgitated spin and advertorial contributions. Thus this could cloud boundaries of ethics and accuracy in reporting and present serious challenges within a new world environment of news and sources. Whether viewed as a communication strategy, a valued form of professional communication or simply ‘read and rip’ journalism, real estate spin today is firmly cemented as ever evolving in its methodology within journalism and public relations.

But the real estate spin sands are shifting rapidly. The question that now arises is: where will this spin sit in a decade from now and will journalists be so accommodating with PR practitioners in the future? This would be a valuable area for future researchers to address.

39 See Appendix 1 for a definition of News Value. 40 See Appendix 1 for a definition of News Value.

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APPENDIX 1: Definition of News Value

Defining the values of news is central to what type of news is presented to different audiences and what is deemed to be of high importance in relation to that audience. As varying audiences have different views on news values, the scope of news values differs in its importance depending on cultural and social boundaries as well as the validity of the news story. Editors and sub- editors constantly face decisions as to what they consider to be a story of news value, especially if confronted with two stories that would rate as news of importance.

Tiffen (1989, p. 52) jn examining news values states ‘there are several dimensions of news values’ with market demand and audience perception being at the core of news production and communicating with community. He further states that ‘stories are presented in a way that maximises their apparent relevance to the audience (‘How X will affect you’) contrasting with the public interest approach followed by editors. (Tiffen, 1989, p.53)

In segmenting the definition of news value into six categories in an international study, Masterton (1998, pp 92-98) rates the importance of news value as Consequence, Conflict, Proximity, Conflict, Prominence, Human Interest and Novelty. These categories, according to Masterton, vary according to the audience and cultural and national boundaries so what may be deemed of high news value in once sector may not rank the same within another sector.

Consequence, which also could fall within the terminology of ‘importance’, ‘significance’, ‘potential significance’, ‘magnitude’ or ‘impact’, says Masterton, is the widespread newsworthiness of the story and the widespread effect on audiences. Hence news affecting audiences around the world such as the global financial crisis of 2007-2008 would fall within this category.

A story of lesser impact affecting an audience closer to ‘home’ or those within a specific community would rank in News Value in the Proximity category.

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‘Proximity ranks second in world acceptance as a criterion of news just edging out Conflict and significantly below Consequence’ (Masterton, 1998, p. 94) although this could alter in Australia through increasing globalisation with ‘fluctuations in migration and national economic interest’.

Conflict, states Masterton (1998), is not simply relegated to confrontation of physical violence but also includes differences of opinion (legal, intellectual and psychological). Although seen as ranking third in Australian News Value, Masterton concedes this is a Western attitude and ranks Conflict higher in the Middle East region through the value placed on it by that audience.

Prominence is defined by Masterton as: Whether statements or an action is news or not, depends on the social position or status of whoever says or does it. What a president/prime minister/prominent public figure says or does makes news; what an unknown citizen says or does, does not, unless it becomes news for some other reason. Prominence, says Masterton, could fit with Consequence if celebrities are involved. (Masterton, 1998, p. 93)

Apart from Consequence, Masterton says Human Interest ranks the most consistent but differs between First and Third World audiences. Masterton views Human Interest as ‘the criterion of ordinary people want to read and hear about the achievements, failures, hopes, joys and despairs of ordinary people elsewhere and is the criterion of emotion’ (Masterton, 1998, p. 97). Although often viewed as stories of ‘soft’41 news value, these often ‘are usually read first’, an example being the death of a leading celebrity such as Michael Jackson.

Stories of Novelty news value can border on the quirky and unusual but not be sensational and fall into the other categories. Masterton’s (1998) study revealed that although Novelty stories were not strongly supported by reporters they were favoured by editors and news editors.

41 ‘Stories that aren’t going to have a direct impact upon people’s lives in the way that a tax increase or a change of government will, but they do provoke a reaction in the audience’ (Kinsey 2005, p. 247).

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Appendix 2: The Australian Journalists’ Code of Ethics

Respect for truth and the public's right to information are fundamental principles of journalism. Journalists describe society to itself. They convey information, ideas and opinions, a privileged role. They search, disclose, record, question, entertain, suggest and remember. They inform citizens and animate democracy. They give a practical form to freedom of expression. Many journalists work in private enterprise, but all have these public responsibilities. They scrutinise power, but also exercise it, and should be accountable. Accountability engenders trust. Without trust, journalists do not fulfil their public responsibilities. MEAA members engaged in journalism commit themselves to

• Honesty

• Fairness

• Independence

• Respect for the rights of others 1. Report and interpret honestly, striving for accuracy, fairness and disclosure of all essential facts. Do not suppress relevant available facts, or give distorting emphasis. Do your utmost to give a fair opportunity for reply. 2. Do not place unnecessary emphasis on personal characteristics, including race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, age, sexual orientation, family relationships, religious belief, or physical or intellectual disability. 3. Aim to attribute information to its source. Where a source seeks anonymity, do not agree without first considering the source’s motives and any alternative attributable source. Where confidences are accepted, respect them in all circumstances. 4. Do not allow personal interest, or any belief, commitment, payment, gift or benefit, to undermine your accuracy, fairness or independence. 5. Disclose conflicts of interest that affect, or could be seen to affect, the accuracy, fairness or independence of your journalism. Do not improperly use a journalistic position for personal gain. 6. Do not allow advertising or other commercial considerations to undermine accuracy, fairness or independence.

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7. Do your utmost to ensure disclosure of any direct or indirect payment made for interviews, pictures, information or stories. 8. Use fair, responsible and honest means to obtain material. Identify yourself and your employer before obtaining any interview for publication or broadcast. Never exploit a person’s vulnerability or ignorance of media practice. 9. Present pictures and sound which are true and accurate. Any manipulation likely to mislead should be disclosed. 10. Do not plagiarise. 11. Respect private grief and personal privacy. Journalists have the right to resist compulsion to intrude. 12. Do your utmost to achieve fair correction of errors.

Guidance Clause Basic values often need interpretation and sometimes come into conflict. Ethical journalism requires conscientious decision-making in context. Only substantial advancement of the public interest or risk of substantial harm to people allows any standard to be overridden.

For more information see: http://www.alliance.org.au

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Appendix 3: The ‘Inverted Pyramid’

The inverted pyramid (Figure 1) is a methodology or structure of words and sentences for writing a ‘hard’42 news story. This style of writing makes it easy for a sub-editor working under pressure and a tight deadline in a busy newsroom to quickly edit and place a story on a news page. When the story is written in the inverted pyramid style, the sub-editor is able to cut the story from the bottom to fit an allotted space within a page layout without fear of jeopardising or cutting out any of the important facts in the story.

In the inverted pyramid (or upside-down triangle) style of writing, the aim is to capture the reader’s attention immediately by stating the most salient or newsworthy facts first. Referred to as the five Ws – who, what, why, where and when – most, if not all of the five Ws, often are contained within the first paragraph in the inverted pyramid style of writing and then repeated and expanding upon in subsequent sentences. In this way, the reader is ‘hooked’ at the beginning of the story because of the immediate presentation of the facts.

While a story written in the inverted pyramid style offers readers the opportunity to instantly assess whether to continue reading or move to another story, it also is a ‘friendly’ format for fast editing allowing sub-editors to quickly formulate a heading for the story after reading the first couple of paragraphs. An example of the lead paragraph of a news story written in the inverted pyramid style could be:

A man has drowned and several hundred holidaymakers remain stranded as torrential rains and flash flooding surround the northern New South Wales township of Brunswick Heads.

42 ‘Generally, the more important, significant, relevant and immediate something is, the better the story and the stronger its claim to being ‘hard news’ (Kinsey 2005, p. 97).

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The lead paragraph includes the five Ws from which subsequent paragraphs can be expanded to include additional information in a descending order importance. By prioritising the news value43 of each fact, the story adopts an inverted pyramid structure with the major details at the beginning, secondary facts in middle and minor details at the end.

The reverse applies when writing opposite to inverted pyramid style. The pyramid (Figure 2) style of writing is used to ‘lead’ the reader to the end (or the bottom of pyramid) for the key point of the story such as the climax of a fiction story. Writing in pyramid style usually has a ‘soft’ beginning which gradually builds in intensity through paragraphs and chapters to the climax at the end. This is a style more suited to fiction and feature writing.

The ‘Inverted Pyramid’ The Pyramid Figure 1 Figure 2

A C

B B C

Figure 1: The lead sentence of the story preferably containing the five Ws – who, what, why, where, when. B: Sentences repeating the 5 Ws with expanded information. C: Minor details that can add extra information to the story’s lead and expanding on B. Figure 2: The ‘soft’ lead into the story designed to entice the reader to move through the paragraphs/chapters. B: The paragraphs/sentences that ‘build’ the story into its ending. A: The ending or climax of the story where the ‘path’ at the beginning becomes clear.

43 See Appendix 1 for a definition of News Value

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