Australia

An Australia-based news channel has come under fire for doctoring the image of a female MP to make it more sexually explicit. An image of state MP Georgie Purcell was allegedly altered by News Nine Bulletin to enlarge her breasts and expose her midriff. 

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The photo of the MP appeared on the channel over her criticism of the Victorian government's rejection of a duck hunting ban, reports BBC.

Is Photoshop to blame?

News Nine, as per the report, has apologised but said that "automation by Photoshop" was to blame for the image that was featured during Monday night's bulletin.

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Apologising to the Animal Justice Party MP, Hugh Nailon, the programme's news director said that their "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."

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"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," he said.

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However, as per the Guardian, Adobe has cast doubt on the news channel's claims. A spokesperson for the company said that the use of Photoshop's AI features would have required "human intervention".

"Any changes to this image would have required human intervention and approval."

'Endured a lot'

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the MP wrote that she "endured a lot yesterday" but that having her "body and outfit photoshopped by a media outlet was not on my bingo card".

"Note the enlarged boobs and outfit to be made more revealing," she said, adding, "Can't imagine this happening to a male MP."

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"What gives?" she questioned, posting the original, and the edited picture.

"Hot tip 9 I've got my whole stomach tattooed," she added in a comment under the post.

Talking to Guardian Australia, the MP said, "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."

(With inputs from agencies)