To not understand the fuss about this photo?

[beeonmybonnett]

Why is it all over the news about the Princess of Wales’ photograph being “manipulated “ (I assume that means it was photoshopped)

Am I missing something or have the media just lost the plot? It’s a photo? Who cares if she made some changes to it? I’m not sure how that makes our lives any different. Quite frankly, I find it absurd that this is even being given airtime when there’s much more important issues to be concerned about e.g. Gaza/Israel, Ukraine and cost of living!

There’s a few threads already running OP.

Of course it matters, we need to be able to rely upon news sources as authentic sources of information

Otherwise they could post any old shite and we’d believe it

It’s a photo of a mum and her 3 kids - in this case I wouldn’t really say it’s a source of information

Because it is being presented as a truthful image and its not.
Normally this would be caught anyway but with all the conspiracy theories bounding around it was always going to get more attention as it 'confirms' those assumptions (in some peoples minds).
As a mum who has had to photoshop to get the best smile for each child it seems fairly obvious. However, there is a responsibility for all photos to be labelled as being edited if there are being presented as fact because why would you believe anything else if they're willing to state an obviously edited photo as the truth - hence the kill order by the press agencies.

YANBU Every photo in the media and the large majority of photos on line are edited/photo-shopped in some way.

People are being hysterical about this. Some of the comments I've seen are ridiculous.... this is massive news.... this will expose the monarchy... this proves xyz... 🙄

People really need to get a grip.

I totally agree

It's pretty wild looking from outside the UK. Any other institution doing this - which isn't automatically/reflexively trusted - would likely be accused of propaganda.

It just seems so pointless. The Palace PR machine has dropped the ball on this whole situation.

I would understand if some important information or the like coming from the palace had been falsified but come on, it’s a bloody photo 🤣🤣 there are much more pressing things to worry about

Agree too. Kate has been unwell, there is mass speculation so she put out a photo. Can’t seem to do anything right. People should just leave them alone. If there is some news then I am sure they will share it when they are ready.

I think that ship has sailed.

I don't get it either. Apparently it's because it might be because she's still more unwell than they are letting on. Or having some kind of breakdown.

Either way I don't see why we need to know or why it matters as news.

It is edited to the point that it looks like she has been superimposed on the photo. Ie she wasn’t originally in it.

This isn’t a filter or a tweak.

*It is edited to the point that it looks like she has been superimposed on the photo. Ie she wasn’t originally in it.

This isn’t a filter or a tweak.*

Really? And what are you suggesting that this could mean? What am I missing?

I cannot get over this hysteria - this country has gone mad.

I have not taken as gospel truth what I read in the papers since I had first hand knowledge of the Westland affair in the mid 80s. The amount of stuff reported that was just plain wrong was staggering.

The only occasion I had my name in the paper they spelt it wrong despite me spelling it out twice for the reporter. If you can't trust them to get something simple like someone's name right , how can you trust them with the big stuff. I read the news and just think that something along those lines might have happened.

But people do post any old shite and people do believe it. That’s how Johnson got elected 🤷‍♀️

YANBU - I don't get it either. It is as if everyone thinks there is some meaning to it beyond the fact that she wanted everyone smiling at the same time and nobody's finger up their nose.

And you don’t think that’s a problem? You don’t think journalistic standards should be upheld?

The Royal are part of a massive PR and media machine and I don't believe they just made a mistake. When did we last see Catherine in a big baggy, dark jumper, which covers her bum? There is so much hidden in this photo, I don't know where to start including Louis having his fingers crossed.

If Catherine wishes to edit her photo what’s wrong with that? I once got a photo taken with my family around the table at a family dinner, I got my DD to use a face editing app on her iPhone to make my teeth look whiter as they looked a bit off, that edited version was then the photo that we sent to the family afterwards.

I didn’t tell anyone the photo had been edited and I doubt they’d care if they knew

I don’t quite get the outrage that the palace maybe manipulating the public

where have people been 🙄 but then this is so obvious

it’s unfortunate that it’s created more conspiracies around Kate’s health and the calls for honesty which is just really about being nosey we all want to know but we don’t need to know

I really feel for her, she needs to be left alone but this is her role that the public feel they own, she is recovering she has children to protect and within all this she has to play the royal pr machine game

do we never learn

😂😂😂

Of course there's nothing wrong with her editing a photo.

But there's nothing wrong with what should be reliable news agencies pulling photoshopped/manipulated images from their publications either. In fact, that's a good thing. Their focus should be on what's real, not what's ideal.

The media just love to feed a frenzy, and what better way to continue on the 'where's Kate' nonsense than with this story? I'm not saying it's right. I'm saying that their job is to sell papers and advertising - and this story is doing well for them.

I think the picture agencies picked up on the "Where's Kate?" trend and exploited that with their "kill" instruction to try to provoke a response. And it worked.

Of course, as news agencies, they do need to verify photos, but this one is meant to be a portrait and therefore likely to be substantially edited anyway. They would have known that. The agencies, after all, helped to supply the portraits that Charles put out after his coronation (and those would certainly have been heavily edited).

Agencies have every right to question the validity of news photos coming out of, say Gaza or Ukraine, because those events are so sensitive to manipulation and skewing the narrative (and because those events really really matter). But in this case, they blurred the line between "public interest" and "in the public interest" for their own agenda.

I think Kate has sadly passed away but they're still claiming for her expenses.

So where's the line between publishing manipulated photos and not?

A portrait is ok. Is a portrait of someone in a war zone ok? Or a natural disaster? Or a terrorist attack? There are some very famous portrait images that came from devastating news stories.

Surely it's easier to just have a blanket ban?