Photoshopped or not?
Just like the media has an agenda against your football team, they also have a biased agenda against your politics. That’s what everyone would like to believe isn’t it? That if something doesn’t represent exactly how you feel, it is deliberate propaganda from the national broadcaster against you.
This is what a lot of Jeremy Corbyn supporters have been claiming since the labour leader appeared on a backdrop on current affairs show Newsnight.
Many Corbyn supporters complained that the picture of him alongside the Kremlin, with the red tint was intentionally suggesting that he was sympathetic towards Russia. Corbyn’s hat appears to have been edited to look ‘more Russian’, it was claimed.
Activist, author, and Labour supporter Owen Jones called out Newsnight for this when he appeared on the show soon after the picture in question was shown. “What sort of country do we live in where the media constantly tries to portray the leader of the opposition, who was the only one who stood up in solidarity with Russia’s opposition… as an agent of foreign powers?”, he asked.
Fully aware of the fact he would probably not be invited to speak on the show again, Jones insisted the BBC owed Corbyn an apology for suggesting falsehoods.
The BBC News Press Team’s official Twitter account hit back, quoting a known Tory activist who was defending their use of the Kremlin backdrop.
This. And the programme didn’t ‘photoshop’ the hat either. https://t.co/rb09LAc1lk
— BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) March 17, 2018
Owen Jones has since responded to the BBC, arguing with the show’s Acting Editor on Twitter.
Hi Jess, firstly lots of respect for you. The photo of Williamson is in a suit and his photo remains clear. There is no shortage of photos of Corbyn in a suit. A photo was selected which was as Leninesque as possible in combination with a red Kremlin background.
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) March 17, 2018
