Internet split as Kensington Palace labeled non-trustable by AFP after Kate Middleton's photo fiasco

LONDON, ENGLAND: A leading global news agency has stated that Kensington Palace can no longer be considered a 'trusted source' following the controversy surrounding the altered Mother's Day photograph of Kate Middleton.

Phil Chetwynd, the global news director of Agence France-Presse (AFP), informed 'BBC Radio 4' that the agency has re-evaluated its association with the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Why Kensington Palace is no longer a trusted source?

On Mother's Day, Kate Middleton's official photo along with her kids was retracted by several international news agencies due to manipulation concerns. 

Following the outcry, Middleton expressed regret and apologized for experimenting with the photograph. 

She wrote on X, “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused...”

However, when BBC's Ros Atkins asked the AFP global news director, Chetwynd, if Kensington Palace was a trusted source, he replied, "No, absolutely not."

"Like anything, when you are let down by a source, the bar is raised," he added. "And we have got major issues internally as to how we validate that photo."

There was no reply from Kensington Palace when asked for an original photo 

Chetwynd said there was a standard rule before killing a photo but when they received no reply, the photo was stopped from circulation. 

"Before we killed the photo, we all sent a message saying, "Could you give us the originals? Could you have a reply," the APF global news director said. "We didn't get a reply so that's why we killed the photo," he added.

He said, "All the agencies validated the photo, which violated our rules," adding, "Because it's actually not even very well Photoshopped. [There are] clearly lot of problems with the photo."

He said as soon as the photo was validated, "All the photo editors of all the major agencies immediately saw there was a problem and got together and spoke about it and said, "What do we do?"

Kill notices are reserved for Iran and North Korea

Explaining how rare the kill notices are, Chetwynd said they were mainly reserved for Iran and North Korea. 

He said it is unusual for media agencies to demand that photos be taken out of circulation. “To kill something on the basis of manipulation [is rare. We do it] once a year maybe, I hope less," he said, according to Deadline. 

"The previous kills we've had have been from the North Korean news agency or the Iranian news agency," he added. 

Chetwynd said, “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," he continued adding, "And so it’s extremely important that a photo does represent broadly the reality that it’s seen in.”

Internet reacts to Kensington Palace being declared as a non-trusted source 

There were mixed reactions on the AFP's view of announcing Kensington Palace as no longer a trusted source. 

"They all asked for originals and there was no response so that is why they killed the photo wow. This is big," an X user wrote. 

"William and Kate are learning that sharing and caring is easier than being a vindictive diabolical. Him and his wife must be exhausted from PR moves. How embarrassing for their children. These two people are not teaching their children to be noble citizens," wrote another. 

"Palace of Deceit! Kate and William are liars," one more wrote. 

"A Mother's Day photo of a mother and her children that she had Photoshopped in an amateurish way is being compared by the Global News Director of a major news agency to the output of the news agencies of Iran and North Korea," another noted. 

"Fascinating. The process was built on trust and once lost, the BRF won’t easily regain it," wrote another. "Wow that's pretty damning!" another added.

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