How we reported the West Manchester Mall’s sale listing
Whether you love it or not, we knew that the news of the West Manchester Mall going up for sale was going to be a high interest story locally.
But getting the sale of the mall confirmed for a story was not something we take lightly.
Lots of times we know about a story and will hold it because we aren’t 100 percent sure of the source’s accuracy.
In this particular case, social network sites can make that decision tough for us.
Here’s how it unfolded for us this week.
I got the call from Lauren Boyer at home on Wednesday night.
Lauren was following Twitter at her apartment — she was in bed at the time eating guacamole by the spoonful (I will not judge) — when she saw the Tweet that the mall was for sale.
She called me and we talked about the source of the information and drew up a strategy to get the news out.
The Twitter tip came from a real estate newsletter website. It was the only area that we had the information.
Not sure if the listing was legit we needed to first confirm it with the company that owns the mall, the Lightstone Group, or the listing company, Savills.
Lauren emailed the company. Another reporter, Sean Adkins, tried calling folks from home.
Oh, and it was around 9 p.m. now. All of us had left work hours earlier, but everyone who loves journalism — or who wants to be successful in their profession — understands they need to be flexible. News never comes in a nice 9 to 5 package.
We weren’t able to confirm it Wednesday night so the story held, even though it was already out there in the “Twitters,” as we like to joke.
The next day Lauren and Sean called more folks to confirm, researched more online and visited the mall to talk to management.
We got the confirmation late Thursday afternoon.
Turns out, the initial source via Twitter had correct information.
We love Twitter and Facebook tips and the tips we receive while having lunch with a source, but it doesn’t appear on our website or in print until we get it confirmed.