The Miami Herald wrongly reported mixed martial arts superstar Nate Diaz was arrested for domestic violence. The Herald‘s Feb. 12 story, now says a mixed martial arts fighter was hospitalized after attacking police after allegedly trying to “snatch a child.”
Diaz’s publicist Zach Rosenfield told iMediaEthics by phone that the story was false and no one from his team was contacted before publication. He added that Diaz has not been in Miami since Feb. 4 and the error was “unfathomable” and “utterly irresponsible journalism.”
Rosenfield said he contacted the Miami Herald and told them the story was false. “We will explore all legal options that we have,” he commented. “It’s a priority.”
“These mistakes, not only should never happen, but it is absolutely mind-blowing that it could have happened in an extent like this. There is absolutely no way to correlate Nate with this story…I literally have no clue how they could have ended up with the go ahead to publish,” he said.
iMediaEthics has written to the Miami Herald.
The Miami Herald published a note in bold atop the article reading: “In an initial version of this story, the Miami Herald incorrectly reported that mixed martial arts superstar Nate Diaz had been arrested in a domestic-violence case. The Herald apologizes for the error.”
In a Feb. 12 tweet, the Miami Herald wrote, “NOTE: In an initial version of this story, the Miami Herald incorrectly reported that mixed martial arts superstar Nate Diaz had been arrested in a domestic-violence case. The Herald apologizes for the error.”