‘Enlarged boobs’: Why Australian channel is taking flak for doctored pic of woman MP

A row has broken out in Australia after a media channel aired a doctored image of a woman MP.

Nine News has come under fire after airing a digitally altered image of Georgie Purcell from the Animal Justice Party.

While the channel has claimed the image was ‘inadvertently altered by Photoshop,’ Purcell and critics aren’t buying the argument.

But what happened? What do we know about the row?

Let’s take a closer look:

According to BBC, Nine News on Monday evening ran a news bulletin about Purcell taking the Victorian government to task for rejecting a ban on duck hunting.

Purcell is the Upper House member of the Victoria’s state parliament.

In the original photo. Purcell is wearing a white sleeveless dress.

However, in the edited version, she is wearing a halter top and skirt. Her midriff is also bare in the altered version.

Purcell’s breasts also seem to have been enlarged.

Purcell posted a side-by-side comparison of the original and the version put up by Nine News.

“I endured a lot yesterday. But having my body and outfit Photoshopped by a media outlet was not on my bingo card,” Purcell said in a post on X.

“Note the enlarged boobs and outfit to be made more revealing. Can’t imagine this happening to a male MP. What gives?”

 According to BCC, Purcell is the youngest woman in the Victorian state parliament.

She has repeatedly pointed out the “constant sexualisation and objectification” that women in Australian politics face.

Purcell told BBC she endured the worst day since taking office in 2022.

“It’s certainly confronting seeing your body altered on your TV in your own home,” she said.

“What has happened to me in the past 24 hours is just something that would never, ever happen to a male politician.”

Meanwhile, Nine News has apologised “unreservedly” to Purcell.

Nine News 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.

“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 US-based Adobe’s photo-editing software.

“This did not meet the high editorial standards we have and for that we apologise to Ms Purcell unreservedly,” Nailon said, describing it as a “graphic error”.

However, 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.

Experts agree.

Melbourne-based Photoshop tutor David Ewing told The Guardian this was “no accident”.

“The [statement] has an underlying tone that Photoshop has done this with a mind of its own, but that mind needs to be told what to do, so that means selecting the top and telling it to make it shorter and then that process is automated,” he said.

“Photoshop would do nothing by itself other than open the photo. Someone has told Photoshop how to edit a part of the image that they have selected.”

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 public broadcaster ABC.

Purcell, who has previously spoken about working as a stripper to pay her way through law school, isn’t buying the explanation either.

“I don’t think there’s a single young person that hasn’t struggled with their body image, and seeing your own body altered on TV is very confronting,” Purcell told ABC.

“I’m not an expert in Photoshop … I’m not sure if I buy it, but I am satisfied with every other way they’ve handled this scenario and am willing to move on.”

“This is not just some random person on the internet. This is a organisation with a lot of staff and a lot of resources that frankly should know better,” she told BBC.

She told BBC she has been on the end of constant sexist abuse.

“[They are] criticising me, telling me to get back on the pole, like weaponising it against me,” she said.

The MP 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.”

“I think male MPs get to endure catastrophic days without having their bodies photoshopped when they’re on the nightly news,” she told ABC Radio Melbourne.

“I wanted to point out the more insidious ways females continue to be treated.”

“For now, at least I know what I’d look like with a boob job and chiselled abs,” she was quoted as saying by News.com.AU.

“The message this sends to young women and girls across Victoria is that even at the top of your field, your body is always up for grabs,” she was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

Victoria’s premier also criticised the incident.

“That’s no way to present any woman, let alone a woman who holds a position in public office,” Allan told reporters.

“Let’s think about the message that sends particularly to young women.”

Allan said this could potentially stop young women from entering politics.

“We know it can because young women tell us that themselves and that’s why again, it’s important to both call it out, which I think is what’s happening here this morning. It’s important to call it out, to identify, to do better and to understand that we have come a long way, but we’ve still got a way to go,” she was quoted as saying by Sydney Morning Herald.

ABC quoted Victorian Women’s Trust executive director Mary Crooks as saying the excuse was “not acceptable”.

“It’s not just a photoshopped image, it’s a form of abuse … it’s invasive of a woman’s privacy and it’s ultimately demeaning,”  Crooks said.

“Anybody who assumes that the increasing use of AI is unproblematic has their head in the sand.”

Crooks said this could indicate “troubling times ahead”.

“Sure, these forms of technology have always got their advantages but they also have a pretty devastating flip-side.

“I think we’re on the verge of a tsunami in terms of the way that women are coming under attack … by use of this kind of technology.”

With inputs from agencies