Why does it matter of Kate edited the photo??

[whatisheupto]

I feel like I am totally missing the point and I am fed up of being in the dark about it! Please explain it to me!

I genuinely do not know why it matters that Kate tweaked her photo?

Surely the purpose was to edit the usual things that spoil a photo a bit.

Does her editing a photo imply something?

Once the metadata in the image has been looked into it’s been questioned as to whether it was actually taken recently or not too, it’s not a case of a few shadows being removed it’s the fact it’s been issued as a recent picture when it’s not which also makes it questionable as a factual source.

Well it's clearly a great distraction from anything that actually matters! It's a topic you can debate with your mates with almost no risk of permanently falling out.

The media and people on social media are trying to punish this woman for having the nerve to keep her medical history private.

This is literally nothing to do with us.

Did you miss the Eleventy billion media stories with headlines like "Where's Kate gone?"

She shouldn't have had to put out any kind of photo or statement or anything. They told us she was having an operation and would be recovering and unavailable till after Easter, but everyone just couldn't leave her alone.

Not 6 months leave, surgery in January, back to work in April, that's 3 months.

We have absolutely no right to her private medical information. Her being a public figure doesn't mean she has to divulge every aspect of her private life to us.

She didn't just edit the photo to remove a spot or make her teeth whiter it was so substantially altered the picture agencies considered it misinformation.

There have been deliberate attempts to erase the data which shows when it was taken.

It isn't about a few tweaks to a photo it is about whether our future head of state can be trusted.

I feel really sorry for her not being allowed to recover in peace and privacy. But… some of the memes online have made me laugh more than they should and also, how can the RF with literally everything at their disposal not be able to get an image Photoshopped to a more professional standard when it’s something so important?

They volunteered when it was taken when they originally posted it. An old photo that was shared as an old photo would have been fine. The problem is the deliberate attempts to mislead.

I'm reposting this which I wrote in another thread. It's about the fact that W&K are not private celebrities or influencers but hold diplomatic/head of state positions. In a democracy, it's very risky to knowingly mislead the public about the true appearance or whereabouts of its state leaders. Even more so if this is done via state media like the BBC, and the image was clearly distributed via official channels with the statement that it was taken last week. If they had just posted a Photoshopped image on their social media, then it wouldn't have been a big deal. It was the fact it was sent to AP and other press agencies.

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Some users seem incensed that people are making such a big deal over a Mothers Day image but it IS a big deal. It was released as factual data documenting two future world leaders on a very specific date. In a democracy, people need to have 100% trust in their media that the images shown of their state leaders is exactly what they look like, at the time and location stated.

Another way of looking at it is to think back to the rumours from a while back that Putin was critically ill, or dying or undergoing treatment. Nobody really knew what was going on. Then a photo surfaces showing Putin looking pretty normal meeting with another world leader but nobody can genuinely be certain when or where it was taken. You can only take the word of Russian press for it but there is always a question mark hanging around. Same for images released by Chinese/N. Korean state media etc.

The media have turned on KP because they came dangerously close to playing the same game. The kill order (extremely unprecedented) was a warning for them not to attempt anything in that direction again. Some people are so caught up in defending the "bullying" of Kate that they forget W&K are also international diplomats of the highest order. They are held to strict standards of how state leaders need to be behave or be perceived.
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Some other user mentioned that they are not active diplomats with negotiating power but it's safe to saw that W&K have a far higher "international protected persons" status than the average diplomat. They obviously get taxpayer funded police protection which Harry has fought and lost. This means they need to adhere to the same, if not stricter, rules about not misleading the public about their true whereabouts or appearance, especially by using image manipulation.

Again, very surprised that nobody in their team advised against this or managed to spot the signs of manipulation before it was sent off to AP, Getty etc. This seems like the biggest and most baffling bit of the mystery. Some conspiracy theorists thing it may even have been deliberate or some kind of sabotage job.

Oh I see, I get it now. Thank you. I bet Kate wishes she could be as blissfully unaware about it all as me.
If you're reading this Kate, hope you're OK and sending you strength! Personally I think if you wanted everyone to think you're all OK, true or not, then that's fine by me.

Because it would have been more honest to not post a pic at all than one that was a false reflection of how she is

I am as republican as they come but even I am feeling sorry for KM.

The comms team for the Wales’s need to be fired. Whoever is leading on this is allowing cock up after cock up and feeding into the nut job conspiracy theories and allowing the press to be as vindictive as possible because they don’t have carte blanche on publishing her private medical info : which they absolutely will have. The puff piece on Rose Hanbury was a particularly vindictive move.

Whatever has happened to KM is likely not as simple as ‘had an op, feel better, back out in front of the cameras‘.
If a hysterectomy has sent her into menopause that’s a whole level of grief that isn’t easily brushed aside much less getting to grips with HRT.

Who’d want press attention whilst dealing with hot flushes and having your face melt down your neck within minutes of leaving the house?

If it’s bowel related she may be on steroids that puff her up or not be able to trust a fart yet.

Being privileged and pampered and rich doesn’t save you from the same bodily failings mere mortals have.

And when she does make an appearance her every hair and pore will be scrutinised. If she looks tired she’ll be criticised. If she looks good she’ll be criticise for having so much time off when she didn’t need it.

The blood lust to make an ill woman perform for nothing more than entitlement from a hypocritical press and idiots with nothing better to do than make up lies is disturbing. Reminds me of the last days of Diana being hounded and degraded by press & public until the day she died and then became a saint to offset the collective guilt.

It's not about the editing. They used the word "manipulation" that indicates that they do not believe that the photo was taken last week by William as stated by KP. Therefore it is not truthful. News agencies expect pictures to be edited/tweaked.

I cannot fathom why they didn’t put out a simple statement regarding the nature of the surgery. She’s the next queen, if she is disappearing for months then why not be clear that the surgery is X, it’s a big op and she will be on meds for X time so won’t be making any appearances or releasing photos. I genuinely think she would have been left alone. All the speculation is just adding to the chaos.

I get they want their privacy but it’s not really an option. When the Spanish queen had her nose done she was open about it. I mean she gave the deviated septum reason but she didn’t just arrive with a new nose having taken months off

Given the widespread speculation about Kate’s health & whereabouts, which she & her staff must have been very well aware of, the palace should have realised that releasing such an obviously edited photo would only fuel speculation further. It would also inevitably be seen as an attempt to mislead both the media and the public and to conceal the true nature & seriousness of the future Queen’s illness.

If Kate’s PR people didn’t realise these things, they are incompetent. If they did realise them, but chose to go ahead & release the obviously manipulated image anyway, that obviously raises questions about why they would do that.

The metadata can be quite misleading because image editing involves saving and resaving things in various file formats. The press only have the finalised copy, presumably a JPG and the "edits" they claim were done could have been minor tweaks or crops to the finished image. The bulk of the editing may have been done in a different PSD file and re-exported. You can copy-paste images from years ago into one PSD, then flatten and reexport and that will change the metadata to today's date.

I admit I do not know if pasting multiple JPGs into one PSD preserves the EXIF (metadata) of every single original image so you can still tell when and with what camera it was taken. I've only had experience changing the dates which is sometimes necessary as some devices or services don't display the files in the desired place due to old metadata.

The photo situation has been made worse by the back of Kate’s head photo published yesterday. KP should have sat on their hands until Kate returned m instead of creating more hype for people speculating online.

@CapybaraBara really useful insightful summary in terms of their position as heads of state etc thank you

Thanks to all posters here give ing intelligent and helpful insight and explanations!

Yes I really wonder if Kate actually had any part at all in the construction and release of that photo, as someone else has reminded us above, she is such a good photographer / has such a good eye. She would never have released that awful picture. Yes at first sight it looks quite like her usual family pics but not at second or third sight and not if you scrutinise it.

The wheels have come off since QE2 passed. A combo of her being utterly respected by the press and her having a tight grip on protocol.

No matter what the truth here, it feels like the beginning of the end

Just what I was saying to a colleague today!

Ive absolutely no idea why this has got the coverage it has. I wouldn’t blame Kate for never releasing a photo of her family ever again, poor woman. I bet the Tories are bloody delighted she’s keeping their absolute shambles off the front pages for them.

Why does it matter? - it doesn't.

why cant they say it? whatever it is.

Well, this thread is insightful and I now actually do believe it matters that Kate photoshopped it. Surely the palace have guidelines published photos need to meet so I agree they have either been stupid (not checked properly) or were indeed out to mislead the public.

People say KP said the photo was taken that same week. That's a silly detail for an establishment that never comments or complains. Liars tend to add unnecessary detail, so yeah it's a red flag.

It matters because it was a lie. A lie they tried to pass off as truth. You don't think it matters when a head of state lies to their people? It may have only been a Mother's Day photo but coming from the Palace it counts as official communication from them and it was untrue. It undermines the trust the British people have in the Royals as a whole. The bigger picture here DOES matter , as does its implications.