Britain’s Crown Prince Bin, who was suspected of deteriorating his health, recently released his latest photo, because the media rushed to report it without verification even though there were awkward parts. Media ethics were tested as the British royal family belatedly admitted that the photo had been manipulated. As it turned out that the photo was manipulated. British Crown Prince Kate Middleton, 42, is smiling brightly with her children at Windsor Castle near London earlier this month. The photo was released by the royal family on the 10th on the crown prince’s Instagram account, and the crown prince said on the 11th that the photo was partially manipulated. The incident in question began on the 10th (local time), which is Britain’s Mother’s Day. At 9 a.m. on the same day, a photo of the crown prince smiling brightly with his children was posted on the social network service (SNS) account of Prince Kate and Prince William and his wife. It was the moment when the recent situation of the crown prince, who underwent abdominal surgery in January without informing his disease name, became known in two months. The appearance of health seemed to quell the crown prince’s “serious illness” at once. Major media outlets covered the photo with great importance. The U.S. AP, the U.K.’s Reuters, and France’s AFP immediately sent the photo to their customers and online. BBC also posted the photo at the top of its website. BBC reported the urgent situation, saying that the photo was shared and used (not shared by the news agency) on social media in order to use the new photo as soon as possible. However, a series of postings complaining that the photo of the crown prince was weird began to appear on social media on Sunday night. When magnified, there were some broken or crushed areas, and the angles of the figures’ arms and hands were unnatural. Experts on photoshopping said that the photo was fabricated, while AP, Reuters, and AFP belatedly withdrew the photo, claiming that it was against the press code. Finally, the crown prince admitted on Wednesday that he edited the photo himself. It is not known how many times the photo was edited, but some experts said there is a possibility that multiple photos were synthesized. The media environment of “excessive demand for perfection” was also criticized. Experts criticized media outlets that were busy publishing photos without proper verification. The crown prince is primarily responsible for posting the manipulated photo in the official promotion window of the royal family, but media outlets that comfortably delivered the photo by participating in the competition for breaking news are also problematic. Photographer Paul Clark told the Washington Post on Wednesday that there were countless easy-to-see manipulations in the photos, adding that media outlets were overly willing and quick to release the photos. Some pointed out that more efforts should be made to verify photos in an era when editing is simplified due to artificial intelligence. Critics also criticized the media environment, which has demanded perfection to the extent that celebrities have to manipulate photos themselves. Even after giving birth to Prince George in 2013, the crown prince had to appear in front of the camera looking flawless within hours. Sally Bethel Smith, a royal photographer, told the WP that “pressure must have been accumulated to meet unrealistic expectations.”
JULIE KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
