60 Minutes Misses the Mark
May 14, 2007-In the world of political campaigns, it's a standard ploy to set the stage with an empty chair when one candidate refuses to debate.
The CBS Show 60 Minutes gave NAR the empty chair treatment last night even though TWICE we offered and prepared association spokespersons for interviews for Leslie Stahl. It was CBS that made the decision they would rather interview our critics and allow them to make unanswered-and inaccurate and unfair-accusations about Realtors® and NAR policies.
The one-sided journalism and egregious errors served no one well, especially the once-vaunted news magazine show. NAR staff spent more than a year working with CBS, beginning in April, 2006. We briefed the producers on the issues and provided reams of documents on NAR's Internet display policies. They attended the annual meeting in New Orleans, where they covered briefings by Pat V. Combs and David Lereah. They spent half a day with NAR's legal counsel, Laurie Janik, in Chicago reviewing the history of the Department of Justice lawsuit, including the development of NAR's IDX and VOW policies. Laurie agreed to be interviewed by Leslie Stahl. Two NAR presidents, Tom Stevens and Pat V. Combs, also agreed to be interviewed. Pat also agreed to show Leslie Stahl exactly how a Realtor® works for her customers. Despite our assistance and openness, CBS decided not to interview anyone from NAR, telling us that the focus of the story had changed.
Clearly, that was not entirely the case. Charges from critics about NAR's Internet display policies survived. NAR's defense was noticeably absent from the segment.
The story almost died at least twice and was revived to salvage the time and the tape that had been shot during the previous 13 months. It was cobbled together to air in the final days of the current television season.
Despite the time CBS put into the story and the efforts we made to educate them, the segment was full of major errors.
Here are some examples:
Errors Facts
The six percent commission is "sacrosanct"
Commissions are negotiable. The average commission rate is not 6 percent, but 5.1 percent, according to Real Trends.
NAR is the industry's "governing body."
NAR is a trade association. It does not "govern" the industry.
In 2003, NAR issued new rules of its own that
The Virtual Office Website policy did not "block access to the MLS members
or threatened to block Internet discounters'
access MLSs" for discounters or any other brokers who are MLS members
to the MLS.
The MLS is the database that lists virtually every home for sale in the country.
There is no single national MLS. Rather, there are more than 900 local and regional multiple listing services. These are not simply "databases" but private exchange of offers of cooperation and compensation between real estate brokers.
Eight states have "minimum service laws" that
require Realtors® to provide a level of service many Internet discounters can't afford.
Realtor is a trademark term and should never be used synonymously with real estate agent the intent of minimum service laws is to ensure consumers receive a minimal level of service from licensees.
The brokerage industry has a powerful lobby.
Eleven states flatly prohibit rebates.
The intent of anti-rebate laws is to prevent kickbacks in real estate transacations.
NAR will be filing a response and demand an opportunity to correct these errors and misrepresentations.
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