The picture of the Australian parliamentarian, Georgie Purcell, appeared on the Nine News news channel in connection with her criticizing the Australian government’s decision to say no to banning duck hunting.
But the news channel had manipulated the image by enlarging Purcell’s breasts and exposing her stomach.
Purcell then posted the unedited image along with the manipulated version on social media.
“I had to endure a lot yesterday. But having my body and outfit photoshopped by the media was not high on my list,” she writes in the post on X.
“What has happened to me in the last 24 hours is just something that would never, ever happen to a male politician,” she further wrote in the post.
Upset the public
The picture has upset the public and also other politicians.
“It’s not a good way to represent a woman, let alone a woman in a public position,” said Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, who herself was depicted naked in a cartoon last year.
Several X users have commented on Purcell’s post, expressing anger at the news outlet.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry this happened, it’s completely unacceptable,” writes one user in a comment
“It’s terrible that women are treated like this,” commented another user.
Apologize
The news channel Nine News has apologized after the incident and blamed the incident on an automated function in the image processing program Photoshop.
“As is standard practice, the image was resized to fit our formats. During that process, the automatic function of Photoshop created an image that did not correspond to the original,” Hugh Nailon, director of the news channel, said in a statement on Tuesday, referring to an AI tool.
Purcell accepts the apology but is skeptical of the news channel’s explanation, according to the BBC.
MP Purcell is the youngest woman in the state, Victoria’s parliament and has often called attention to the “constant sexualisation and objectification” that women in politics in the country endure.