Melbourne’s Nine News network has apologised after a sharp rebuke from Victoria’s MP Georgie Purcell for having used an image edited to make her breasts look bigger and expose her midriff.
Nine News blamed the faux pas on ‘automation by Photoshop’ – a claim Adobe, maker of the software, has cast doubt on.
According to The Guardian, Nine News director Hugh Nailon apologised to the Animal Justice Party MP for what he called the ‘graphic error’.
Nailon said: ‘Our graphics department sourced an online image of Georgie to use in our story on duck hunting. As is common practice, the image was resized to fit our specs.
‘During that process, the automation by Photoshop created an image that was not consistent with the original. This did not meet the high editorial standards we have, and for that we apologise to Ms Purcell unreservedly.’
However, Adobe said use of its generative AI features would have required ‘human intervention’.
Purcell is quoted as saying: ‘Let’s be clear – this is not something that happens to my male colleagues.
‘The message this sends to young women and girls across Victoria is that even at the top of your field, your body is always up for grabs.’
This was yet another example of the discrimination and barriers that women in politics faced.
The BBC quotes Victoria’s Premier Jacinta Allan – who herself was controversially depicted naked in a newspaper cartoon last year – as saying: ‘That’s no way to represent any woman, let alone a woman who holds a position in public office.’