The seemingly innocuous question, “Where is Kate?” has turned into a messy tangle of news stories. They’re a reminder that computer-manipulated images are now so common that prominent figuresĀ are increasingly comfortable attempting to pass them off as authentic.
For months, Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales and future queen consort of England, had been dogged with questions about her whereabouts, her health and much more followingĀ abdominal surgery in January.Ā
Things kicked into high gear on March 10, when the Royal Family released an image of Middleton with her three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. The seemingly everyday family image was sent to news agencies including the Associated Press and Reuters to mark the UK’s Mother’s Day. But then those groups sent out a rare notice requesting that their clients no longer use the photo, saying it had been manipulated.
Within hours, the Royal Family admitted the photo indeed had been changed — and the princess herself took the blame.
“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” she said in a rare apology. British tabloid The Daily Mail reported that palace representatives refused to release the original photograph. Kensington Palace did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The move marks the latest in a series of high-profile incidents concerning manipulated images that could be used to skew our understanding of the world’s most powerful people. Though Middleton attempted to downplay the fracas, the eroded public trust that followed the photo’s release may be much harder to repair.
Real or manipulated? How to tell if a photo is edited
Image manipulation isn’t new. Russia’s Josef Stalin famously removed political enemies from photos nearly a century ago. Since then, manipulated images have become so commonplace in some parts of society that some celebrities have begun publicly criticizing the practice.
Though it’s increasingly hard to identify…
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