It emerged yesterday that a report stating that Australian cricketer Nathan Hauritz was allegedly selling off his representative cricket gear at a garage sale, was incorrect
It emerged yesterday that a report stating that Australian cricketer Nathan Hauritz was allegedly selling off his representative cricket gear at a garage sale, was incorrect.
Journalist Stephen Birch, who wrote the initial version of the story said yesterday that the article was changed by the sub editors as "that's the way it goes sometimes".
Birch said that Hauritz was not in fact selling his gear at a garage sale nor giving it away to anybody, which his story claimed.
The story titled Spun Out appearing on the back page of the Courier Mail claimed Hauritz had held a garage sale and had sold off his Australian and representative cricket gear.
It claimed that he had done so over his recent axing and was separating himself from having played for Australia.
When questioned about the accuracy of his report Birch said that he had written the piece after stumbling upon a garage sale where he happened to see Hauritz sitting in the back of the garage going through a box of cricket gear.
He said he walked over to Nathan and asked if he could buy some of the gear and Hauritz had given him a couple of the pieces. It is learnt that the journalist, who did not reveal his identity to the cricketer and did not even ask him why he was being so generous to give him a valuable piece of sporting memorabilia, headed straight to work to key in the story. The Hauritz family has labelled the story as defamatory and misleading.
