Welcome to the Webinar

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Melvyn Dawson
5 years ago
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1 Welcome to the Webinar We ll get started at 2 p.m. Eastern Use the Q&A box on the left to submit questions for the presenter or technical support Technical considerations: If you re experiencing choppiness, try changing your My Connection Speed settings, located under the Meeting menu. If you are unable to hear the audio on your computer, call and enter #. A recording of today s webinar will be available shortly.

2 How to Cover Housing Stories in Your Community Jan. 7, 2016

3 Thank You Harnisch Foundation! For funding our Webinar equipment Knight Foundation! For its support of News University Zillow! For funding this Webinar

4 Today s Presenter Nicholas Nehamas! Business reporter, The Miami Herald! Covers real estate, jobs and banking! Winner of IRE student award for investigative journalism #tellinghousingstories

5 Today s Agenda Why we care about housing affordability! A major problem for readers and local businesses Where to track down compelling sources! From struggling renters to prospective homebuyers How to marry data with anecdote! What kinds of stories will pop online and draw readers?

6 Polling Question What is the hardest part about covering real estate?! Finding real life sources! Using public records! Crafting narrative stories! Keeping up w/ daily grind of breaking news! Tracking big development projects! Making stories relatable for readers! Other

7 Looking at inequality in housing In Miami and many U.S. cities, there s a growing gap in how people live! The rich live in fancy new homes, the poor in deteriorating apartments.! As reporters, we have to find new ways to tell an old story

8 Why it matters What happens when locals can t afford to buy a home?! People living further from jobs = more traffic! Businesses can t find workers! The middle class will flee

9 What kind of data helps tell these stories? It can be as simple as looking at home prices versus wages! Nationwide, home prices are up 13x against wages.! The result? In Miami, a couple making median income can afford a single-family home in just 10 of 80 ZIP codes.

10 Using data on your beat There s a bewildering variety of housing data available for reporters! Be careful not to overpack your stories w/ numbers. Readers eyes will glaze over.! Illustrate your stories with real people

11 What kind of data can you use?! Home prices and sales from local Realtor groups! Foreclosures + cash buyers from Corelogic, RealtyTrac! Home values from Zillow, Case-Shiller! Affordability stats from academics, nonprofits! Much more available from Zillow webinar

12 How to report on housing data A few options:! The straight number story. News + a few analysts.! The takeout: Find a few sources to illustrate the trend.! The big picture

13 The big picture story Use data to give your stories an empirical spine

14 What will your money buy? A Miami Herald tool that readers can use! Using data from Zillow, Florida Dept. of Education and ESRI, we let readers see where they can afford to live and how schools and crime stacked up! We wanted readers to figure out the story on their own

15 The big picture story Where a typical family can afford to buy

16 The big picture story Low prices = high crime + poor schools + long commutes

17 What we found! Low wages + foreign investors snapping up available properties = one of least affordable housing markets in U.S.! Middle-class people are being pushed farther away from where they work, where the best schools and safest neighborhoods are! Story also includes profiles of different affordable neighborhoods around Miami- Dade written by more than half dozen reporters. (See video.)

18 Results? The most popular Miami Herald interactive of 2015! We heard from homeowners, community groups and local politicians! We held an event ($25 admission) for real estate professionals to discuss our findings

19 Polling Question What real estate stories get the most clicks?! Celebrity or expensive home sales! Major new development projects! Affordability stories! Home price, home sales stats! Gentrification! Other

20 How to find sources Real people flesh out housing stories! Important to look for renters, home buyers, home sellers! Realtors are a great place to start. They can recommend clients like the Henry family (right).

21 A real-life story! Numbers (on how hard it is for young people to rent) came from embargoed Trulia study.! I had met Raymond at a job fair a few weeks earlier.! Lived with his grandparents b/c he couldn t afford a place of his own

Good places to meet sources! Job fairs: a place to meet people struggling with rent.! Events for people looking for assistance with mortgages, foreclosure relief.

22 Good places to meet sources! Job fairs: a place to meet people struggling with rent.! Events for people looking for assistance with mortgages, foreclosure relief. Contact your local NACA office.! Work training, Obamacare sign-ups, food banks. Any event geared toward working class.! Remember: Everyone has a housing story. Your barber, your doctor, your child s teacher.

23 The PIN Network An excellent resource for source-hungry journalists! Every newsroom should have access to the Public Insight Network! Allows reporters to pose questions to a network of engaged sources! Great way to find people on deadline

24 Sample PIN query #tellinghousingstories

25 Sample PIN responses #tellinghousingstories

26 Investigative techniques Finding the hard-to-get stories! Crafting public records requests! Bad landlords, s/meetings between developers and gov t officials, construction worker safety! Think of stories like a maze. You need to find guides. People in gov t, banking or real estate can help especially if they re dishing dirt on rivals.

27 Polling Question What s the biggest problem for homebuyers in your area?! High prices / low wages! Mortgages too difficult to get! Not enough homes on the market! Poor quality homes! Buying a home is actually pretty easy

28 How to think about housing stories Make sure they have a real life hook! Think about the biggest challenges your readers face! Use the data as a spine to build your narrative around! Build something people can spend time with

29 Topics that may be productive in your area #tellinghousingstories! Home + rent prices too high! Availability of mortgages (especially for minorities)! Flippers/investors beating homebuyers to closing! Aging housing stock! Developers building too many luxury homes! Gentrification

30 In Summary Use data to create an empirical spine for your work Flesh out your numbers with real people Readers will reward deep reporting on affordability w/ clicks, engagement Please get in touch:!

31 Thank You We ll be going to questions shortly We want to tell you about some other training

32 Webinar Replay Registration gives you access to the replay! Available two days after the live Webinar! Access it anytime

33 Upcoming Webinars Covering a Presidential Campaign from Outside the Beltway! Friday, January 8 Covering the U.S. Visa System and its Flaws! Wednesday, January 13 Mining Social Media Trending Topics for Stories Your Audience Cares About! Tuesday, January 26

34 Poynter Seminars Leadership for Broadcast Executives! This three-day seminar will help you learn how to improve your newscasts, create a culture of innovation and work seamlessly with other departments.! March 14, 2016 through March 16, 2016! Apply by: February 8, 2016

35 Questions? Fire Away! Use the special Q&A pod to submit questions! Questions are not posted to the public

36 Thank You for Attending Remember to visit Poynter s NewsU Journalism Training. Anytime. Anywhere. For Anybody.

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