An Australian TV channel has come under fire after a photo of a female politician was allegedly edited to enlarge her breasts and show her tummy.
Victorian Upper House MP Georgie Purcell posted the original and altered images on social media, pointing out where the photo that appeared in a Nine News bulletin appeared to have been edited. The channel blamed "automation by Photoshop" for what it called a "graphic error" but the incident has caused a sexism row in the country.
Ms Purcell said she was going through one of the most difficult days since she was first elected, given the government's decision to reject a ban on duck hunting, and that the incident only made it worse. She wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: "I endured a lot yesterday. But having my 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. Can't imagine this happening to a male MP. What gives?" She later pointed out that she has her "whole stomach tattooed", which does not appear in the doctored image. The Animal Justice Party MP has frequently called out the "constant sexualisation and objectification" that women in Australian politics face.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan also criticised Nine News, saying: "That's no way to represent any woman, let alone a woman who holds a position in public office." The premier herself faced a sexism incident last year after News Corp cartoonist Mark Knight depicted her as a nude catwalk model – using some pixelation – with the caption: "From the Commonwealth Games cancellation... the premier's new clothes."
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She said: "It's 2023 and I think it's pretty reasonable to expect that the Herald Sun in-house cartoonist should be able to draw women without using sexualised imagery. They've done that. It's a matter for them." Hugh Nailon, director of Nine News Melbourne, apologised Ms Purcell "unreservedly" and said in a statement: "I would like to sincerely apologise to Georgie Purcell for a graphic error that occurred in last night's bulletin. Our graphics department sourced an online image of Georgie to use in our story on duck hunting."
The image used on Nine News appear to show Purcell's breasts having been enlarged and her stomach is showing (georgievpurcell/Twitter)"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 apologize to Ms Purcell unreservedly."
After the MP called out the channel for being sexist, many expressed their fury on social media. A person commented: "I'm so sorry that happened, it is completely unacceptable." Another added: "Oh god, the media in this country is out of control." One angered social media user wrote: "Whoever got paid to photoshop this, maybe have a think about what you're doing with your life?" Adobe also cast doubt on the TV channel's claim that the error was automatically made by the photo editing software. A spokesperson for the company said the use of its generative AI features would have required "human intervention and approval".
Adobe said in a statement: "Adobe is committed to ensuring our technology is developed in line with our AI ethics principles of accountability, responsibility, and transparency and respects our customers and communities. We are working with customers and partners to enable content credentials – which are 'nutrition labels' for digital content, that remain associated with content wherever it is used, published or stored. Edits to this specific image would have required human intervention and approval.
Ms Purcell said she accepted Nine's apology but said she is sceptical of their explanation. However, she said that if it is really an accident, it raises the threat of AI to women in public life, also because nobody in the newsroom noticed the photo was different from the original. She said: "This is not just some random person on the internet. This is an organization with a lot of staff and a lot of resources that frankly should know better."
The MP, who previously opened up about working as a stripper to support herself through law school, has been a target for sexist abuse - and said since the incident, people have been targeting her even more. The politician said: "[They are] criticising me, telling me to get back on the pole, like weaponising it against me." Sexism in Australian politics has been an issue for years. A report in 2021 found that a third of employees in federal parliament had been sexually harassed.
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