How the Tampa Bay Times Made A Billion Dollar Mistake
Tampa Bay was buzzing last Friday about a story that the New
York-based Blackstone Group would be investing a whopping $1 billion in the
local real estate market, buying up homes and holding them as rental
properties.
The headline shouted from the top of the front page of the
Poynter-owned Tampa Bay Times, where reporter Drew Harwell had an exclusive. It
was the top emailed story on the Times’ website, which quoted the president of
what is currently the largest home rental company in Tampa Bay calling it a “a
land grab unlike anything we’ve ever seen.” The local business journal noted
the incredible news in a blog post.
By midday Friday, the South Florida Sun Sentinel had a
different story. Blackstone would be buying up homes in many markets, but only
spending a tiny piece of that billion dollars in Tampa Bay.
Back at the Times, reporters and editors were scrambling to
figure out what went wrong. It appears the source for the story, a local
Blackstone affiliate, may have been misinformed or was speaking without
authorization.
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