Howard Jones Fails at Journalism

I get it, it’s hard to fill a Saturday edition every single Saturday in this small town. But Howard Jones, this was just plain slack:

REAL estate agents Brian Phegan and Greg Wood are upbeat about the Albury property market and are confident that property is still a great investment.

This is not journalism Howard. They’re a pair of real estate agents, people who’s financial interests are tied up in having people in Albury believe that buying property in Albury is a good idea. And what did you do? You wrote an article saying “these two real estate agents think buying property is a good idea”.

And the used car salesman thinks that buying a used car is a good idea.

Talk about stating the bloody obvious. It’s not journalism. You didn’t ask “Wont we be affected by what is going on in the rest of the country?”, or “What about rising bank interest rates (as a result of bank exposure to the US crisis), wont that continue to put pressure on borrowers in Albury to sell up?”, or even the most basic of basic questions, “What about all the for sale signs popping up around the place?”.

But you didn’t even ask why they might be making such a claim.

I can see what’s happened. It was a minimal effort job. The rest of the article is clearly a press release the two of them have sent you, about their new positions within the local real estate industry association.

But even you recognised that wasn’t news.

In good news, Di Thomas is now Deputy Editor at the Border Mail. Here’s hoping she’s in a position to demand higher journalistic standards, and a greater focus on investigation rather than mere regurgitation.