Kensington Palace 'no longer a trusted source' after photo drama says top agency

14 March 2024 , 18:48

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The photograph released by Kensington Palace (Image: PA)

The world's leading photo agency has relegated Kensington Palace to its blacklist and says it's no longer a trusted source amid Kate's Mother's Day photo row.

In the image the Princess of Wales and her three children appeared to pose together, but it was soon pulled by a number of agencies, including Agence France-Presse, over concerns it may have been manipulated.

The princess apologised, claiming that she had done the editing herself. But AFP's global news director Phil Chetwynd has confirmed the agency no longer considers the palace a source it can trust.

Mr Chetwynd continued to provide some context, saying that the decision to "kill" the photo share by the Princess of Wales was a rare one usually reserved for propaganda images dished out by global pariahs like North Korea and Iran.

Kate apologised for the error (UK Press via Getty Images)

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's "The Media Show", Mr Chetwynd said the agency works with the palace often, and that until Sunday it had considered it a "trusted source". AFP is not the only agency to complain about the snap, with similar companies, including AP and Reuters issuing a "kill notice", in which is advised its member sources to prevent any further ciruclation of the snap. They took the controversial decision because the level of altering meant it breached their ethical standards.

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Mr Chetwynd said similar decisions had been made against the Iranian news agency or the North Korean news agency, he said. The rolling out of a kill notice is a rare event and a "big deal", he said, adding that it only happens maybe once a year.

The editor said AFP requested the unedited snap from Kensington Palace, and they did the reply, but have not revealed the fruits of that discussion.

The biggest photo agencies issued rare kill notices after the picture was circulated (AP)

When directly grilled on whether the palace was still a trusted source, he answered: “No. Absolutely not. Like with anything, when you’re let down by a source, the bar is raised and we’ve got major issues internally.”

“It’s actually not even very well photoshopped. There are clearly a lot of issues with the photo,” Chetwynd continued. “It shouldn’t have been validated. I think as soon as it was, all of the photo editors at all of the major agencies immediately saw there was a problem and got together and spoke about it and said ‘what do we do?’”

Ryan Fahey