Irish social media users defend Australian politician as TV network alters her image
The television news channel has apologised
An Australian television news channel has apologised for altering a photo of an Australian Member of Parliament.
Georgie Purcell, is a member of the Victorian Legislative Council representing Northern Victoria since November 2022.
Purcell is also a member of the Animal Justice Party.
Purcell called out the news channel in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter saying: "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?"
The statement featured a side-by-side picture of the original and the version edited by 9News Melbourne, part of Nine Network Australia.
Hugh Nailon, irdector of 9News Melbourne released an apology saying: "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. 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 apologise to Ms Purcell unreservedly."
Many Irish social media users have commented their frustrations for Georgie.
One user said: "Leave women’s bodies alone for f**k sake! Is it the 00’s! Glad she called them out."
Another user said: "I am so incredibly sorry this has happened to you."