Australian news channel uses doctored image of MP Georgie Purcell, apologises

An Australian news channel was heavily criticised after it used a doctored image of a female MP of the Victoria state.

Georgie Purcell, a lawmaker representing Animal Justice Party in the Victorian Parliament, called out Nine News Melbourne and posted the original and doctored photographs on her X account.

'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?' she tweeted.

The BBC reported that the Purcell image appeared in a Nine News bulletin after she criticised Victoria's government for rejecting a ban on duck hunting. According to Sky News, the image was used in a promo by News Nine Melbourne ahead of Purcell's appearance on their channel on Monday.

Nine News Melbourne apologised for the altered image but said that 'automation by Photoshop' was responsible for it.

'I would like to sincerely apologise to Georgie Purcell for a graphic error that occurred in last night's bulletin," he said in a statement posted by the network. 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,' channel's director Hugh Nailon said in a statement.