Homebuilder glosses over write-off, and biz reporters ignore it

TheStreet.com media critic Marek Fuchs writes Wednesday about how homebuilder Toll reported another write-off when it released earnings, but the media that wrote about the results downplayed or ignored the fact that because the company asked politicians to fix the home crisis.

Fuchs writes, “The Business Press Maven always tells you that local news can either be the best or worst of coverage, having either great sources or sources the reporters are too chummy with?

“Well, The Triangle Business Journal, based in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area of North Carolina where Toll is active and powerful, fell in the latter camp. The paper’s offering managed to feature the quote that laid siege to investor attention without — I kid you not — even mentioning the write-off. Though a full paragraph was given to the company’s beg to Washington, dust the article for evidence, and you won’t find the write-off. Yikes.

“The Associated Press was not, overall, more negative on Toll. This report, in fact, mentioned in the lead that the company surpassed Wall Street’s expectations. But it appropriately managed to work in news of the nearly $300 million write-off, which it called ‘hefty,’ and did not take the bait on the whine to Congress.”

Read more here.