The royal family has lost all their credibility!
After Princess Catherine‘s photoshop scandal, one of the world’s biggest news agencies has declared that Kensington Palace is “not a trusted source.” Yeesh!
Phil Chetwynd, global news director of Agence France-Presse (AFP), confirmed that update on BBC Radio 4‘s Media Show on Wednesday. He said that the company has reviewed its relationship with the Princess of Wales and her husband Prince William and will now rigorously inspect all future handouts from the royals! When asked if the royals are considered a trusted source still, he explained:
“No, absolutely not. Like with anything, when you’re let down by a source, the bar is raised. […] We sent out notes to all our teams at the moment to be absolutely super more vigilant about the content coming across our desk, even from what we would call trusted sources.”
Oof.
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It probably doesn’t help that so far KP has refused to release the original, untouched photo of Kate Middleton and her kids. She admitted to editing after publishing it in honor of Mother’s Day in the UK amid her abdominal surgery recovery. After fans noticed there were many inconsistencies with the image, several photo agencies sent out a rare “kill notice” on the photo with the Associated Press claiming it was too “manipulated” to be deemed an authentic portrait.
Discussing this further, Phil said a scandal like this would’ve been unthinkable just a few days earlier, but the image raised “major issues” with the AFP because it “violated our guidelines.” Also, he noted that it’s “not even very well photoshopped” and should never have been “validated” in the first place. Oof!! On the drastic choice to demand the photo be taken out of circulation, he added:
“One thing that’s really important is you cannot be distorting reality for the public. There’s a question of trust. And the big issue here is one of trust, and the lack of trust and the falling trust of the general public in institutions generally and in the media. And so it’s extremely important that a photo does represent broadly the reality that it’s seen in.”
Especially when considering the context! Fans have been worried sick about Kate’s health and whereabouts amid mass conspiracy theories already. So the fact that the palace owned up to releasing a massively photoshopped photo in the middle of that mess is concerning AF! Understandable that they’re no longer trusted!
Reactions? Do you think The Firm will do anything to win back this trust? Let us know your predictions (below)!
[Image via Euan Cherry/WENN]
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