A sensational twist has cast doubt on Channel Nine’s explanation for how an MP had her breasts enlarged and her clothes reduced in size in a news bulletin.
Australia’s youngest MP, Georgie Purcell, 31, slammed the Nine Network for airing the doctored photo during the news bulletin in Melbourne on Monday night.
The photo enlarged her breasts and turned her white dress into a crop top, revealing a toned midriff, which outraged the Animal Justice Party politician.
9News Melbourne director Hugh Nailon offered Ms Purcell a groveling apology, saying “Photoshop’s automation created an image that was not consistent with the original.”
But a spokesperson for Photoshop manufacturer Adobe embarrassed Nine on Tuesday by revealing that using the AI features would have required a human to make the adjustments.
Australia’s youngest MP, Georgie Purcell, 31, (centre) has criticized the Nine Network for airing a doctored photo of herself during Monday night’s Nine News Melbourne bulletin. Ms Purcell is pictured next to Jacinta Allan in the image, in a bulletin presented by Nine newsreader Alicia Loxley
The image used by Nine showed Ms Purcell wearing a crop top that showed off her bare midriff. Ms Purcell noted that this could not have been her body for one obvious reason: her stomach has been tattooed since 2020.
“Any changes to this image would require human intervention and approval,” the spokesperson said.
Ms Purcell was featured in the Nine News bulletin after criticizing Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan’s decision not to ban duck shooting in the state.
In her message on X (formerly Tweet)the heavily tattooed politician shared the image from the segment alongside the original photo, which was taken last year.
‘I had to go through a lot yesterday. But having my body and outfit photoshopped by a media outlet was not on my bingo card,” she wrote.
‘Note the enlarged breasts and the outfit made more revealing. I can’t imagine this happening to a male MP. What gives?’
Ms. Purcell noted that the photo couldn’t show her real midriff for one obvious reason: her stomach was tattooed in 2020.
“Hot Tip 9 I got my entire stomach tattooed,” she wrote.
Mr Nailon apologized to Ms Purcell after Daily Mail Australia approached the network for comment.
“I would like to sincerely apologize to Georgie Purcell for a graphic error in last night’s bulletin,” he said.
“Our graphics department found an online image of Georgie to use in our duck hunting story. As usual, the image has been resized to our specifications.
“During that process, Photoshop automation created an image that was inconsistent with the original.
‘This did not meet the high editorial standards we have and for this we apologize unreservedly to Ms Purcell.’
Ms Purcell is the youngest woman in any Australian parliament and the second-youngest woman ever elected to the Legislative Council of Victoria.
She recently told Daily Mail Australia about the horrifying moment photos of her working as a stripper while studying law at university were leaked online.
When she was 19, she thought her future dreams of working in law or politics were over. She came across the photos posted on Facebook.
Georgie Purcell, 31-year-old MP from the Animal Justice Party, took to X (formerly Twitter) to hit out at the network for using a photo that had been photoshopped to make her breasts appear larger. In her post, the heavily tattooed politician shared the image from the segment (left) alongside the original photo (right).
Ms Purcell is the youngest woman in any Australian parliament and the second-youngest woman ever elected to the Legislative Council of Victoria
“I worked far away from where I studied and grew up so I wouldn’t meet anyone I knew, and while I felt there was nothing wrong with that kind of work, I knew many others would feel differently,” said Mrs. Purcell.
‘Then one day I was at the hairdresser’s and when I logged into Facebook I saw that I had been tagged in a photo of me working as a stripper without my consent, and there were a lot of comments.
“I grew up in a small country town in Geelong, so everyone knows everyone and it spread very quickly and viciously.”
Channel Nine has been contacted for further comment.