Covering a story that may, or may not, be fake

Terry Maxon, the airlines reporter for the Dallas Morning News, writes about how the paper handled the story of a mysterious bidder offering to purchase all of the shares of the parent of American Airlines and take it private.

Maxon writes, “A few hours after it got the letter Tuesday, AMR said ‘we have no corroborating information to demonstrate the offer described in the letter is legitimate. Prior to receiving the letter, AMR had never heard of Sterling Holdings. We have not been able to confirm whether Sterling Global Holdings is a shareholder of AMR.’

“Weintraub declined to name any of his investors, any past deals, where his company was domiciled, the names of his various companies, etc. The address on the letterhead appears to be, by looking at Google Maps, a small collection of offices in a non-descript one-story building in Davie, Fla.

“Around my office, we debated what to write about the letter. Do you just ignore it? Do you treat it as a legitimate offer? We agreed that we should put something in the Dallas Morning News, but not much – just noting that the offer had come and what AMR said about it.

“I wrote more on Airline Biz, but with great skepticism. Other media also raised questions about the proposal and bidder. Heather Struck of Forbes referred to the ‘mysterious offer.’ Shira Ovide of the Wall Street Journal referred to it as ‘the Weird (Non) Takeover Offer for American Airlines.’ Teresa Rivas of Barrons calls it ‘The Case of AMR & The Phantom Suitor.'”

Read more here, including criticism Maxon received from an American pilot for writing anything.