Australia’s youngest MP Georgie Purcell has reacted to Channel Nine’s explanation after the network blamed an artificial intelligence image-generator for enlarging her breasts in a news bulletin graphic.
The Animal Justice Party MP, 31, told Nova 100’s Ben, Liam & Belle on Wednesday, she has accepted the network’s apology but has doubts about their explanation.
‘Nine has claimed it was an accident but whether it was intentional or not, I think it just raises a bigger issue about the impact it could have on negative body image especially for young women,’ she said.
‘I’ve accepted Nine’s apology but I do have doubts around the reasoning… I hope lessons are learnt from it.’
Ms Purcell had slammed Nine Network for airing the doctored photograph during its Melbourne news bulletin on Monday night.
Australia’s youngest MP Georgie Purcell has reacted to Channel Nine’s explanation after the network blamed an artificial intelligence image-generator for enlarging her breasts in a news bulletin graphic
The picture made her boobs bigger and turned her white dress into a crop top, exposing a toned midriff, outraging the Animal Justice Party politician.
Director of 9News Melbourne Hugh Nailon issued a grovelling apology to Ms Purcell on Tuesday and said ‘the automation by Photoshop created an image that was not consistent with the original’.
But a spokesperson for Photoshop’s manufacturer Adobe embarrassed Nine on Tuesday by revealing that the use of its AI features would have needed a human to make the adjustments.
‘Any changes to this image would have required human intervention and approval,’ the spokesperson said.
The Animal Justice Party MP told Nova 100’s Ben, Liam & Belle, she has accepted the network’s apology but has doubts about their explanation. Ms Purcell is pictured next to Jacinta Allan in the graphic, in a bulletin presented by Nine newsreader Alicia Loxley
Ms Purcell was featured in the Nine News bulletin after she criticised Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan’s decision not to ban duck shooting in the state.
In her post on X (formerly Twitter), the heavily tattooed politician shared the image from the segment alongside the original photo, which was taken last year.
‘I endured 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 boobs and outfit to be made more revealing. Can’t imagine this happening to a male MP. What gives?’
Ms Purcell noted the photo couldn’t have been shown her real midriff for one very obvious reason – she had her stomach tattooed in 2020.
‘I’ve accepted Nine’s apology but I do have doubts around the reasoning… I hope lessons are learnt from it,’ she said
‘Hot tip 9 I’ve got my whole stomach tattooed,’ she wrote.
Mr Nailon issued an apology to Ms Purcell after Daily Mail Australia approached the network for comment.
‘I would like to sincerely apologise to Georgie Purcell for a graphic error that occurred in last night’s bulletin,’ he said.
‘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.’
Ms Purcell is the youngest woman in any Australian parliament and the second youngest ever to be elected to Victoria’s Legislative Council.
Ms Purcell slammed Nine Network for airing the doctored photograph during its Melbourne news bulletin on Monday night. In her post, the heavily tattooed politician shared the image from the segment (left) alongside the original photo (right)
She recently opened up to Daily Mail Australia about the horrifying moment photos of her working as a stripper while studying law at uni were leaked online.
Then aged 19, she thought her future dreams of working in law or politics were over she came across the photos posted on Facebook.
‘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 line of work, I knew many others would think otherwise,’ Ms Purcell said.
‘Then one day I was sitting at the hairdresser and when I logged into Facebook, I saw I was tagged in a picture without my consent which showed me working as a stripper and there were tonnes of comments.
‘I grew up in a small country town in Geelong so everyone kind of knows everyone and it just spread really quickly and viciously.’
