Recently Inman News, a national real estate industry outlet, published a story called When Media coverage, Industry Interest Clash.

The story, written by co-editor Glen Roberts, pointed out the conflict in some real estate markets between  local real agents and local newspapers.

The basis of the conflict is the fact that in some market areas, local real estate agents rely heavily on print ads purchased from the very newspapers that consistently run news stories with a negative slant toward the real estate industry and the current economic situation.

The specific case that highlighted the conflict was in Elizabethtown Kentucky where a real estate agent sent "hate mail" to the publisher of the local paper for running a nationally syndicated story questioning whether "now is a good time to buy a house". The real estate agent's point was that while we (real estate agents) are spending over a million dollars a year to buy ad space from you, you (the News Enterprise) are sabotaging us by running stories counter to our efforts.

The real estate agent was angry because the newspaper was not running more "localized" news about the industry. In the real estate market area in question, the real estate market was actually not that bad.

Well, the story goes on this way. The News Enterprise editor, hit with the hate mail and then a national story about it, gave in.

Other than the immediate apology from the News Enterprise, the agents that sent the hate mail that started the debate are on the front page of the newspaper today. The local newspaper painted them as local industry experts and resolved to "localize" all real estate industry news in the future.

Todays News Enterprise Story: Area Pros Offer Tips For Making A Good First Impression.