In the wee hours of the morning, NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport dropped a bombshell: The Buffalo Bills were “closing in on” a deal to trade for Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Antonio Brown. “There it is,” his flourish of choice on the report. While Rapoport later couched his initial statement by saying “there are things to work out,” he was also willing to say that the deal was “close to being done.”
Until a report is seen with someone’s own two eyes or confirmed by one of the parties, the job of independent journalists is to verify a possible lead with their own research and sources, in order to build a better picture of the story.