Real Estate and Reston, VA: The Press and the Real Estate Market

I work in Northern Virginia, outside of Washington D.C..  For ease of reference, we are often clumped by the press  into the "Washington,DC" market, but our market behaves differently than either DC or Maryland.

For the past year, I have watched the local and national reporting about the real estate market cause things to jump around and behave very strangley. Is it only me, or do other folks believe that the press is acting very irresponsibly by creating panic in markets that would not otherwise be as problematic as they have been?  I am in the trenches every day working with buyers, sellers, lenders, appraisers and settlment agents and I have seen over and over again the changes in the market coming almost immediately AFTER specific problems have been reported.  I understand that the press looks at a small situation and forecasts what it COULD mean for the broader market, but come on, I think the press is jerking us all back and forth!

Just this week, it was reported that the Washington,DC market was down, both sales prices and transactions. Well, guess what?  Virginia sales figures were up!  That was not reported in the same article. My clients read these articles and panic.  Buyers don't want to buy and sellers don't want to sell. 

I know that the downturn is news--believe me, no one pays more attention to these stories than I do--but how about an occasional positive slant? There are some real positives for buyers. Even sellers can be sure that the buyers are serious candidates. 

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this? Does anyone else think that real estate reporting has become very irresponsible?