OK. Time for a bit of introspection. The media is getting flamed on a real estate Blog. Here's a sampling from Bakersfield Bubble (https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=33255068&postID=2211229321866135851)
"It was so obvious that C&C was fraudulent, that the fluff pieces done by the press were $ driven, Cal State Bakersfield is a institution for the lame and our city leaders are in bed with developers."
"In my opinion, most of these news investigator types were probably riding the RE wave themselves. It's a tough wave to get off and try to destroy. Now is the logical time to jump on the anti-Crisp bandwagon because the writing is on the wall and only a few, very few, card carrying Realtors are optimistic about the slide ending any time soon. "
"...here's a bone for next round of real estate news that blogs will be covering now that the "bubble" popped:
1. Reporters too stupid to know the obvious; now fishing for leads on the blogs.
2. The blogs will now document how stupid and lazy news reporter showed up three years late for the biggest real estate story in Btown's history -- well, at least until the FBI showed up on Crisp's front door.
3. Bloggers now speculate on how much money local television and newspapers made off Crisp & Cole's ad cash (hush money).
3. Stupid, crooked "real estate mogul" fools stupid news people.
4. Part-time bloggers out-report local news media with half their brains ties behind their backs.
5. Part-time bloggers out-perform local media in spotting a crook."
Ouch. I won't speak for all the media here, nor will I speak for the reporting of others.
But I believe in transparency.
Since I was handed this story several months ago, we've been working diligently on getting the story on the air. It takes longer than I'd like. Television news is a different beast than Online or print reporting. Yes, we need video. Of houses in question, of people, and of documents. Add to that the time that it takes to pull these records at the hall of records. Then, we have to track down key players and give them a chance to respond. When we go out and do that, we get a small but strident minority who say we're being too agressive and unethical. When I put a story on the air, I stand behind my work. I can't go on the air with a story without backing it up with documents and multiple sources. And many sources on this story were reluctant or otherwise unwilling to come forward. I talked with scores of members of the real estate industry who knew about the transactions that we reported in July, but were unwilling to discuss them on camera or even mention David Crisp Or Carl Cole.
Bakersfield Bubble and I have been talking back and forth for some time. He/She (not assuming anything here) is a good person. He/She(?) posed this fair question:
How much money did your station make of those ads? Did that influence the station to look the other way? I am not saying it did - I just wonder if it played any role?
Answer: Thousands of dollars worth of advertising were arranged between Crisp and Cole and the local media. Much of it went unpaid. I have a promissory note on my desk from 29 Eyewitness News Signed by David Crisp on March 22 of this year. It's for $18,200 for a series of infomercials/real estate shows that ran on the airwaves. A civil suit that we reported on Monday indicates Crisp paid an initial installment of $2,4000 but bailed on the rest of the bill.
The Bakersfield Californian signed a similar deal for print advertising worth over $30,000, and is also now suing.
Beacuse the note is signed by David Crisp, it's a personal guarantee. But there are other companies(plural) that did not get such guarantees, and made an agreement with Crisp and Cole's corporation. At this point, that corporation appears defunct, and payment does not appear to be coming soon.
So to answer Bakersfield Bubble's question very little money changed hands. And at least from my desk, advertising and other sensitivities are never a factor in reporting.
I'll take my licks for not getting on this story sooner. In retrospet, I wish many in the media took a harder, more cynical approach to reporting.
As the old annonymous journalism adage goes: "If your mother says she loves you, check it out."
-Kiyoshi
