Is media blameworthy for real estate debacles and financial crisis?

It is still not sure what led to the onset of the existent financial crisis in the United States of America. While some term the worldwide recession as culpable, there are many who consider that the media has to share the blame as well. These mixed responses did surface at the 2009 Real Estate Trends Conference in Shreveport, Louisiana, the state in southern United States on the Gulf of Mexico. Even Paul Bishop, the important speaker at the conference, through statistics tried to prove that the majority of Americans blame some form of the media for the current financial crisis.

Paul Bishop happens to be the Managing Director of real estate research for the National Association of Realtors and he was found to deliver a helicopter view of the national economy and highlighted certain aspects of the local economy. “Who do Americans blame for this level of pessimism?” Bishop said. “Basically it’s one form of the media or the next. They don’t say the media caused the financial collapse.”

The conference, which was presented by the commercial investment division of the Northwest Louisiana Association of Realtors, continued all morning and included presentations on trends in residential, retail, industrial and office real estate from local professionals. As indicated by Bishop, nearly 66 percent of people blame advertisers, 59 percent blame the print media, and 56 percent blame other forms of media, including the Internet. He made it clear that people consider the media helped perpetuate an attitude of overspending. “Where did we go wrong? Why did we go wrong?” Bishop said. “Well, you’ll notice no one blames themselves here “» I’d be very concerned if I was in the newspaper business.”

He then turned his center of attention to the local economy and real estate industry. What did he say then? He said northwest Louisiana is supposed to expect slower net absorption in office and industrial retail. The financial markets must loosen up before new construction takes place, he added.

Lastly, it must be said that Bishop’s statement has given rise to new debates.