The National Association of Realtors has gotten into the blog business with their launch of [NAR in the News](http://narblog1.realtors.org/mvtype/narinthenews/) to _look at how the news media covers NAR and our top issues_.

>News coverage shapes perceptions of people, organizations and entire industries.
Yet few of us understand what goes into the making of a news story. “NAR in the News” will give its readers a peek behind the scenes into how journalists cover the nation’s largest trade association and the 1.2 million REALTORS® it represents.

For those who are excited about receiving unique insight from NAR, you may have to wait. The blog is being run by NAR’s Public Affairs Division (ie public relations) and appears to be largely an effort to stave off their recent weak public relations image. However, I am hopeful that more clarity and openess will result from this effort.

The blogosphere has created a number of public relations problems for NAR over the past year since the data and comments that are released, seemingly every day, are dissected and analyzed by hundreds of blogs (including Matrix). Up until the emergence of the blogosphere, NAR’s take on market conditions had usually been accepted at face value. However, their PR efforts during the change in the market over the past year has been largely a series of missteps, using strange market descriptors like housing expansion for the post-boom period to Balloons Not Bubbles! because they don’t pop, to their current favorite: high plateau.

Since the blog will be run by their PR group (where’s the cool name with the tell-tale trademark symbol the use after every instance of Realtor?).

I hope NAR does not squander this great opportunity to sell their expertise as real estate professionals. Perhaps they need a non-pr vehicle (blog) to do this.

How about “The Realtor”?