Efe Sydney

sydney

Updated Tuesday, January 30, 2024-12:36

The Nine

television network

, one of the most important in

Australia

, apologized this Tuesday for broadcasting manipulated images of MP

Georgie Purcell

, in which she appeared with enlarged breasts and a cut-off dress.

In a statement, the director of

9News in Melbourne

, Hugh Nailon, attributed the alterations and subsequent broadcast to a "graphic error" after the graphics department chose and adapted an image of Animal Justice Party politics, to accompany a story about duck hunting in the state of Victoria, for which she is an MP.

"During that process, Photoshop automation created an image that did not match the original. This did not meet the high editorial standards we have and for that

we apologize unreservedly to Ms. (Georgie) Purcell

," said the director.

The doctored photo was broadcast in a news segment on Monday night, after Purcell criticized the Victorian Government's rejection of a measure proposing

a ban on duck hunting in the region

.

This Tuesday, the deputy

published the original and modified images on her social networks

and criticized how her outfit and body had been edited, which generated a barrage of criticism among users for the sexist treatment she has received.

Purcell stressed that it is not "unusual" for politicians "to have a catastrophic day at work," but unlike men, women "also have to deal with the constant sexualization and objectification derived from filtering, distortion and generation by artificial intelligence" of their images.

"Let's be clear

- this is not something that happens with my male colleagues

," she emphasized.

"This kind of sexist editing should not overshadow the good work of female journalists, like this story, and it should not overshadow important issues like my continued fight to ban duck hunting," she concluded.

Various politicians and members of the public have been outraged by the events and expressed their support for the MP, including the governor of Victoria,

Jacinta Allan

, who was depicted naked in a newspaper cartoon last year.

"That is no way to represent any woman, much less a woman who holds public office," she said.