Australian TV network apologises after giving MP larger breasts in edited photograph

Georgie Purcell, an MP from the state of Victoria, said it was 'very confronting' to see her body altered on a Channel Nine broadcast. Photo / X

An Australian television network has apologised after digitally manipulating a photograph of a young female MP to give her bigger breasts and a bare midriff.

Channel Nine claimed that the image of Georgie Purcell, a state MP in Victoria, had been “inadvertently” altered through an automated process on Photoshop.

The 31-year-old politician from the Animal Justice Party said she found its response hard to believe and the episode showed how women in public life were often sexualised in an “insidious” way.

The photograph of Purcell was altered by Channel Nine as part of its coverage on Monday of a debate on banning duck hunting in Victoria.

The MP, who has spoken about how she worked as a stripper to put herself through law school, was critical of a decision by the government of Victoria not to outlaw the sport.

The original image, of her wearing a sleeveless white dress, was altered so that she had bigger breasts and an exposed midriff.

‘I can’t imagine this happening to male MP’

Posting the two contrasting images on X (formerly Twitter), Ms Purcell wrote:

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? pic.twitter.com/NhnkDRMidc

— Georgie Purcell (@georgievpurcell) January 29, 2024

Channel Nine issued an apology, saying that the alteration to the photo was a mistake.

“Our graphics department sourced an online image of Georgie to use in our story on duck hunting,” Hugh Nailon, the director of the network, said in a statement.

“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.”

The network blamed the manipulation of the photograph on artificial intelligence, insisting that no member of staff had altered it.

But Adobe, which owns Photoshop, said that the changes to the image would have required human intervention.

Purcell said on Tuesday that she was not convinced by that explanation.

‘Very confronting’

“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,” she said, adding that “seeing your own body altered on TV is very confronting”.

She said she had raised the issue publicly because she wanted to highlight “the more insidious ways females continue to be treated”.

Purcell, who was elected to Victoria’s state parliament in 2022, has spoken about her challenges funding her law school education and how she worked as a topless waitress and stripper to cover her tuition fees.

“I’m a really unique combination in terms of my work experience because I obviously was a topless waitress and stripper and I think that’s given me really strong skills in dealing with people and particularly difficult people at times,” she told an Australian news outlet last year.