Oregon real estate reporter fired in dispute about coverage

Ethan Lindsey of Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that David Fisher, the real estate reporter for the Bend Bulletin in Oregon, was fired from his job in a dispute with his editors about how negative the coverage should be about the current market.

Fisher claims that a story he wrote was edited to exclude any negatives about the market. So he called in sick two days in a row to protest.

Lindsey wrote, “Fisher says he was told he was fired was for lying about being sick.

“John Costa is the editor-in-chief of the Bulletin. He will not comment on Fisher’s firing. But he denies altering Fisher’s story to suit the city’s real estate interests.

“John Costa: ‘Frankly, in the grand scheme of real estate stories, it ranks, I don’t even think it achieves the middle. It’s basically one of those stories that we all do, you do them too, in which an editor says go to the luncheon, cover what is said at the luncheon, and that’s what came back.’

“Costa points to positive and negative real estate stories the newspaper has run before, during, and after the housing bubble.”

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