SYDNEY: An Australian TV news channel apologised “unreservedly” Tuesday for altering a photo of a state lawmaker, who complained it gave her “enlarged boobs” and a more revealing dress. Georgie Purcell, upper house member of the Victorian state parliament, posted side-by-side the original photo and the version edited by 9News Melbourne, part of Nine Network Australia.
In the edited image, her white sleeveless dress has been transformed into a halter top and skirt, exposing her midriff. A translucent light grey square transposed over part of the photo seems to accentuate the MP’s chest. “Note the enlarged boobs and outfit to be made more revealing. Can’t imagine this happening to a male MP,” Purcell wrote in a post on X.
9News Melbourne director Hugh Nailon said the channel’s graphics department had sourced an online photo of the MP for use in a story on duck hunting. Purcell is the Animal Justice Party MP for Northern Victoria. “The image was resized to fit our specs,” Nailon said. “The automation by Photoshop created an image that was not consistent with the original,” he added, referring to US-based Adobe’s software. Adobe disagreed with the explanation. “Any changes to this image would have required human intervention and approval,” Adobe spokesperson said. AFP