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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.”
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Wisconsin school shooter was in contact with California man plotting his own attack, court documents say
The shooter who killed a student and teacher at a religious school in Wisconsin brought two guns to the school and was in contact with a man in California whom authorities say was planning to attack a government building, according to authorities and court documents that became public Wednesday.
Police were still investigating why the 15-year-old student at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison shot and killed a fellow student and teacher on Monday before shooting herself, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes told the Associated Press Wednesday. Two other students who were shot remained in critical condition on Wednesday.
A Southern California judge issued a restraining order Tuesday under California’s gun red flag law against a 20-year-old Carlsbad man. The order requires the man to turn his guns and ammunition into police within 48 hours unless an officer asks for them sooner because he poses an immediate danger to himself and others.
Carlsbad is located just north of San Diego.
According to the order, the man told FBI agents that he had been messaging Natalie Rupnow, the Wisconsin shooter, about attacking a government building with a gun and explosives. The order doesn’t say what building he had targeted or when he planned to launch his attack. It also doesn’t detail his interactions with Rupnow except to state that the man was plotting a mass shooting with her.
CBS’ San Diego affiliate KFMB-TV reported that law enforcement searched the man’s home Tuesday night after the order was signed by the judge.
Police, with the assistance of the FBI, were scouring online records and other resources and speaking with the shooter’s parents and classmates in an attempt to determine a motive for the shooting, Barnes told the AP.
Police don’t know if anyone was targeted in the attack or if the attack had been planned in advance, the chief said. Police said the shooting occurred in a classroom where a study hall was taking place involving students from several grades.
“I do not know if if she planned it that day or if she planned it a week prior,” Barnes said. “To me, bringing a gun to school to hurt people is planning. And so we don’t know what the premeditation is.”
On a Madison city website providing details about the shooting, police disclosed Wednesday that two guns were found at the school, but only one was used in the shooting. A law enforcement source previously told CBS News the weapon used appears to have been a 9 mm pistol.
Barnes told the AP that he did not know how the suspected shooter obtained the guns and he declined to say who purchased them, citing the ongoing investigation.
No decisions have been made about whether Rupnow’s parents might be charged in relation to the shooting, but they have been cooperating, Barnes told the AP.
Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school that offers prekindergarten classes through high school. About 420 students attend the institution.
The Dan County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the two people killed Wednesday as 42-year-old Erin West and 14-year-old Rubi Vergara.
An online obituary on a local funeral site stated Vergara was a freshman who leaves behind her parents, one brother, and a large extended family. It described her as “an avid reader” who “loved art, singing and playing keyboard in the family worship band.”
West’s exact position with the school was unclear.
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