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Media Hype Makes A Bad Situation Worse
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by Tamara Bernal
Tamara Bernal has written for various Child Care Resource and Referral newsletters, Helium, blogs on MySpace and for Internet subscribers to my Seeds for the Harvest email list.
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Like it or not, the news media does have the powerful ability to influence the thoughts and actions of the American public. If it were not so, we would not be swayed by enticing advertising designed simply to create a void or need within us. The fact is, companies pay unbelievable amounts of money to utilize the powerful influence of advertising media.
That said, one cannot think that daily reports from nationally known and trusted news media outlets do not influence the way we think. They present their information as facts but often are only presenting some of the facts and a lot of the hype.
As it pertains to the reports on mortgage foreclosures consider this;
First of all, lot of the "bubble" was created, or at least inflated, in large part by all of the media frenzy over lower interest rates and the promotion of "creative lending" options that opened up homeownership to people who were previously locked out of this element of the American dream. Unfortunately, most were not fully aware of what they were getting into. Now we are dealing with the fallout of the frenzy.
It may be true that obtaining a mortgage will get tougher on people with lower credit scores and who are self employed. On the flip side the doom and gloom, reports of pending destruction messes with the minds of people who are fully qualified to wisely and safely purchase a home with a low, fixed, interest rate, 30 year conventional mortgage. This group is in an excellent and powerful position to buy a home just about anywhere in the country right now and yet they are hesitating and holding back out of fear. Who is feeding that fear?
I would like to see the media balance out the information they report about the current housing and sub-prime mortgage issues and begin to rebuild the confidence of the hardworking, financially stable core of the American economy.
If this group starts buying with confidence the situation will turn around in a short time.
Published: Aug 30,2008 13:09
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Andy Cowan
Andy Cowan, an award-winning writer, whose credits include Cheers and Seinfeld, regularly contributes humor pieces to the Los Angeles Times and the CBS Jack FM Radio Network.
Paul M. J. Suchecki
Paul M. J. Suchecki has more than 30 years of experience as an award winning writer, producer, and cameraman. He's written numerous newspaper and magazine articles. Currently he writes, produces and shoots for LA CityView Channel 35 and his more than 250 articles for Ehow.com are approaching half a million readers.
Coby Kindles
Coby Kindles is a freelance journalist, screenplay writer and essayist. She has been a staff writer at Knight Ridder and a regular contributor to The Associated Press.
Debbie Milam
Debbie Milam is a syndicated columnist for United Press International, an occupational therapist, family success consultant, and motivational speaker with more than 20 years experience. Her work on stress management, spirituality, parenting, and special-needs children has been featured in over 300 media outlets including First for Women, The Miami Herald, Elle, Ladies Home Journal, The Hallmark Channel, PBS and WebMD.
Dan Rafter
Dan Rafter has covered the residential real estate industry for more than 15 years. He has contributed real estate stories to the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Business 2.0 Magazine, Home Magazine, Smart HomeOwner Magazine and many others.
Jack Nargundkar
Jack Nargundkar has been repeatedly published in Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. He is also an author of "The Bush Diaries" published in July 2005.
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