CBS News
Australian TV news channel sparks outrage for editing photo of lawmaker who said her “body and outfit” were photoshopped
An Australian television news channel apologized “unreservedly” Tuesday for altering a photo of a state lawmaker, who complained it gave her “enlarged boobs” and a more revealing dress.
Georgie Purcell, an 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, which was broadcast on Monday evening, 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.
“I endured a lot yesterday. But having my body and outfit photoshopped by a media outlet was not on my bingo card,” Purcell wrote on social media. “Note the enlarged boobs and outfit to be made more revealing. Can’t imagine this happening to a male MP. What gives?”
9News Melbourne director Hugh Nailon said in a statement that the channel’s graphics department had sourced an online photo of the MP for use in a story on duck hunting.
“As is common practice, the image was resized to fit our specs,” Nailon said. “During that process, the automation by Photoshop created an image that was not consistent with the original,” he added, referring to U.S.-based Adobe’s photo-editing software.
“This did not meet the high editorial standards we have and for that we apologize to Ms. Purcell unreservedly,” Nailon said, describing it as a “graphic error.”
Adobe disagreed with the explanation.
“Any changes to this image would have required human intervention and approval,” an Adobe spokesperson said in a statement to Australian media.
Purcell, who is the Animal Justice Party MP for Northern Victoria and has previously spoken about working as a stripper to support herself through law school, said the doctored image has made her a target for sexist abuse online, the BBC reported.
“[They are] criticizing me, telling me to get back on the pole, like weaponizing it against me,” she said, according to the BBC.
Purcell said she did not believe the same mistake would have happened with a photo of Victoria’s state premier, Jacinta Allan.
“I imagine that if AI spat out a picture of Jacinta Allan in a crop top they would have noticed that but they don’t with me,” she told Australia public broadcaster ABC.
She said the incident had an impact on her, and “could affect other women even more, and it should never happen again.”
“These are things that would never happen to our male colleagues, ever.”
Victoria’s premier also criticized the incident.
“That’s no way to present any woman let alone a woman who holds a position in public office, represents a community and is in the public discourse every single day,” Allan told reporters. “Let’s think about the message that sends particularly to young women.”
In a separate Instagram post, Purcell said she accepted the station’s apology even though she was “not convinced” by the reason given.
“When you’ve struggled with negative body image your entire life, it’s confronting seeing yourself edited on tv after the worst day at work you’ve ever had,” she wrote. “But this isn’t just about me, it’s about how we treat women more broadly.”
She continued: “All I ask is that we learn from this. Because the last thing I want is to deter women and girls from achieving their dreams and contributing to public life after witnessing what I endure.”
Washington — President Biden is set to travel to the battleground state of Wisconsin on Friday for a campaign rally, marking the start of a crucial weekend for his reelection bid as he seeks to assuage concerns about his fitness for a second term sparked by his startling debate performance just over one week ago.
In addition to the campaign event in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday afternoon, Mr. Biden will tape an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, which the network said will air in full Friday night. The president will also head to Philadelphia for another campaign event on Sunday, capping the July 4 holiday weekend with a visit to a second battleground state.
The president’s appearances are coming under new scrutiny following his poor showing against former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, in the first general election debate on June 27. Mr. Biden blamed his performance on a busy travel schedule leading up to the face-off with Trump, saying during a campaign event Tuesday that he “almost fell asleep” on stage after making two trips to Europe in June.
In a pair of radio interviews that aired Thursday, Mr. Biden admitted he had a “bad debate” and that he “screwed up.”
Mr. Biden’s campaign and the White House sought to brush off concerns about his lackluster performance by insisting he had a cold and that the debate fiasco was simply a “bad night.” As part of efforts to quiet concerns about Mr. Biden and his age, he and Vice President Kamala Harris participated in a call with campaign staff on Wednesday, and they met with 20 Democratic governors at the White House later that evening. Mr. Biden also spoke with the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate, as well as other key allies on Capitol Hill.
The president has maintained the same message throughout the outreach, according to participants: he is in the race to defeat Trump and will not be pushed out.
“I learned from my father, when you get knocked down, just get back up, get back up,” Mr. Biden told “The Earl Ingram Show,” which airs in Wisconsin, in the radio interview Thursday. “And you know we’re going to win this election, we’re going to just beat Donald Trump.”
Amid the assurances, two House Democrats have openly called on Mr. Biden to withdraw from the presidential race: Reps. Lloyd Doggett of Texas and Raúl Grijalva of Arizona. Others, meanwhile, have publicly urged the president to take steps to prove to voters, elected Democrats and party donors that he is fit for a second term in the White House.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
CBS News
Vatican excommunicates ex-ambassador to U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, declares him guilty of schism
A firebrand conservative who became one of Pope Francis’ most ardent critics has been excommunicated by the Vatican.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who once served as the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S., was found guilty of schism. The Vatican’s doctrine office imposed the penalty after a meeting of its members on Thursday, a press statement said Friday.
The office cited Viganò’s “refusal to recognize and submit to the Supreme Pontiff, his rejection of communion with the members of the church subject to him and of the legitimacy and magisterial authority of the Second Vatican Council,” as its reasoning for the ruling.
Viganò, who retired in 2016 at age 75 and was the papal envoy in Washington from 2011-2026, convulsed the Holy See with accusations of sex abuse in 2018, calling on Francis to resign.
Patrick Semansky/AP
In an 11-page letter, Viganò claimed that in 2013 he told Francis of the allegations of sex abuse against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. But, he wrote, the pontiff ignored that, and allowed McCarrick to continue to serve the church for another five years publicly. He said the pope should resign and subsequently branded him a “false prophet” and a “servant of Satan.”
In the letter, Viganò also made a number of ideological claims and was critical of homosexuals within Church ranks. He did not offer any proof for his statements.
The Vatican rejected the accusation of a cover-up of sexual misconduct and last month summoned Viganò to answer charges of schism and denying the pope’s legitimacy.
Viganò, who regarded the accusations “as an honor,” said he refused to take part in the disciplinary proceedings because he did not accept the legitimacy of the institutions behind it.
“I do not recognize the authority of the tribunal that claims to judge me, nor of its Prefect, nor of the one who appointed him,” he said in a statement issued last week, referring to the head of the doctrinal office, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, and to Francis.
Viganò restated his rejection of Vatican Council II, calling it “the ideological, theological, moral and liturgical cancer of which the (Francis’) ‘synod church’ is the necessary metastasis.”
He had not yet commented on the Vatican’s ruling on Friday.
McCarrick, the ex-archbishop of Washington, D.C., was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019 after an internal Vatican investigation found he sexually molested adults as well as children.
Biden heads to Wisconsin to kick off critical weekend for 2024 campaign
Second round of voting in France this weekend as antisemitism concerns rise in Europe
Property owners could pay for $1 billion in upgrades after HCMC fight stalled tax change
Biden heads to Wisconsin to kick off critical weekend for 2024 campaign
Second round of voting in France this weekend as antisemitism concerns rise in Europe