Royalty thread #15: A New Era

[airgelaal]

All this reminds me of the story of Charlene from Monaco. There were also a lot of conspiracy theories, but so far everything seems to be fine.

 

[MacMadame]

I think it’s more than the press being pissy when you have AFP (the largest and original press agency in the world) saying KP is no longer trusted source.

KP should never have been considered a reliable source. It's like saying a Press Release is a reliable source!

 

[MsZem]

I am happy to report that I brought up the "Where's Kate" saga in class today, and almost none of my students knew what I was talking about. Clearly, they have better things to do with their time

(I also used FSU to illustrate something we were discussing. Some of the students are younger than this community)

 

[Jenny]

KP should never have been considered a reliable source. It's like saying a Press Release is a reliable source!

Press releases are a reliable source if the issuing organization is reputable (and most are) and if media does their job in fact checking.

Earlier today I quoted a study here that I read this morning that included the stat that 46% of Gen Z don't care about the source of news. Other interesting notes in this study included that direct source news and information is preferred by the majority of consumers - ie they'd rather get it straight from the brand or organization than filtered through news or social media. For many companies, social media is another form of issuing a press release - it's a way to get out news and information about their products directly to those who want that information. It also allows for engagement with their audiences, including immediate feedback and relationship building.

What I keep going back to in this case it that it was a family photo issued to celebrate Mother's Day. Sure, it might have been an attempt to say "she's alive and well" but then again they've posted or distributed lots of images like it before. How many media stories have we all seen - and shared here - that gush "new photos!!"? It's been a practice as long as there has been public interest in celebrities, and media has happily gone along with it because it sells (I recall when she was still alive that People said putting Diana on the cover immediately raised sales, so that's why they did it so often).

And yet, Fox News is still called and treated like a news organization, as are Murdoch's outlets.

At this point I think any so-called legitimate news organization that is still covering this non-story is doing it for clicks and search placement. There are far bigger fish to fry in this world than to pick on a mom's clumsy attempt to make a family picture look nicer.

 

[marbri]

I am happy to report that I brought up the "Where's Kate" saga in class today, and almost none of my students knew what I was talking about. Clearly, they have better things to do with their time

(I also used FSU to illustrate something we were discussing. Some of the students are younger than this community)

Is that your way of saying your class was laughing at all us old folk?

 

[MsZem]

Is that your way of saying your class was laughing at all us old folk?

Nah, they were impressed! They're a good group.

 

[MacMadame]

Press releases are a reliable source if the issuing organization is reputable (and most are) and if media does their job in fact checking.

Right. They aren't a reliable source in and of themselves. They have to be fact-checked. And anything BP or KP says should be in the same category. Not in the category of "a reliable source said".

I remember when I ended up taking over for the VP of a start-up and wrote a PR for our new upgrade and saw it turned into articles almost word for word. That is some really bad journalism IMO.

 

[Vagabond]

Good luck fact-checking Kensington Palace! Neither the Prince nor the Princess of Wales is likely to return calls from reporters.

 

[MacMadame]

Good luck fact-checking Kensington Palace! Neither the Prince nor the Princess of Wales is likely to return calls from reporters.

Then they should report it as "the palace said" and not "This happened"

 

[ballettmaus]

AFP acts as if every single photo they ever published besides that wasn't touched up. Come on. In our day and age, are there any pictures of a person that are published and not manipulated in any way? This is ridiculous.

 

[airgelaal]

I really love photography, but I was always too lazy to learn Photoshop and other popular applications. That's why I don't edit my photos at all. This is why my friends have a lot of “clean” photos of their children.
Glory to laziness!

 

[skategal]

AFP acts as if every single photo they ever published besides that wasn't touched up. Come on. In our day and age, are there any pictures of a person that are published and not manipulated in any way? This is ridiculous.

If you read into the matter, that isn’t what they are saying at all.

They have journalistic standards that allow for some photoshopping. The photo of Kate and kids has been “digitally altered” beyond the allowable standards of ethical journalism.

I’m thankful these standards exist particularly considering we are in the “fake news” era and the research cited above that young people do not consider the source of their news.

 

[overedge]

@Jenny I agree with your earlier post. But IMO when the Palace (or the Waleses' PR) said that Kate would not be doing any public engagements until after Easter, and that there would only be "significant updates", it seems odd to put out a photograph just because it's Mother's Day. They must have known there would be a ton of speculation about the photo, "how healthy does she look" etc. If they wanted to mark Mother's Day, they could have just sent out a statement wishing a lovely day to everyone celebrating, without a photo.

 

[Wyliefan]

I really love photography, but I was always too lazy to learn Photoshop and other popular applications. That's why I don't edit my photos at all. This is why my friends have a lot of “clean” photos of their children.
Glory to laziness!

Same! I couldn't touch up a photo if I wanted to.

 

[Badams]

This entire thing is just sad. I get why Meghan and Harry wanted out. No matter what side you fall on. Nobody should live this way.

 

[Lynn226]

@Jenny I agree with your earlier post. But IMO when the Palace (or the Waleses' PR) said that Kate would not be doing any public engagements until after Easter, and that there would only be "significant updates", it seems odd to put out a photograph just because it's Mother's Day. They must have known there would be a ton of speculation about the photo, "how healthy does she look" etc. If they wanted to mark Mother's Day, they could have just sent out a statement wishing a lovely day to everyone celebrating, without a photo.

Or posted a photo of homemade cards from the children. Or better yet William helping the kids make the cards. Or would that cause too much speculation,as well?

ETA: The Dutch King mentioned Photoshopping in response to a child who mentioned family photos.

Dutch king pokes fun at Princess of Wales’s photo-editing row

King Willem-Alexander says ‘at least I didn’t Photoshop it’ when asked about a picture with his family

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[MacMadame]

Or posted a photo of homemade cards from the children. Or better yet William helping the kids make the cards. Or would that cause too much speculation,as well?

I think they couldn't win on this.

Btw, because of this "controversy," I have learned there is a free alternative to Photoshop called GIMP! Free!

 

[Steph]

This is not going to destroy their popularity in the long term and I'd strongly encourage all the NA-based posters here to seek out the thoughts and opinions of people in the UK over this.

Surely Canadians can form our own opinions about our head of state and his family?

 

[SkateSand]

The only thing I noticed when the photo was published is that Kate was clearly hiding her torso. So I thought there was really no need to post the photo since it would only draw speculation and that it has. But unless I've missed something, people are whining about the photoshop fixes to the kids' clothing and hands and stuff. And that's what seems weird to me.

 

[canbelto]

Pete Souza made an interesting post about this:

Pete Souza on Instagram: "I made this photograph of Prince George meeting President Obama in 2016. The digital file was “processed” with Photoshop, a software program made by Adobe that virtually every professional photographer uses. Yet my photograp

53K likes, 775 comments - petesouza on March 14, 2024: "I made this photograph of Prince George meeting President Obama in 2016. The digital file was “..."

www.instagram.com

I made this photograph of Prince George meeting President Obama in 2016. The digital file was “processed” with Photoshop, a software program made by Adobe that virtually every professional photographer uses. Yet my photograph was certainly not “altered” or “changed” in content.⁣
I thought of this distinction after the photograph released earlier this week of Princess Catherine and her children was found to be “altered.” Some stories referred to it as being “photoshopped.” And that made me cringe.⁣
Every publication like the New York Times, and every news organization like the Associated Press, have strict policies on using Photoshop to process images. Basically, the accepted practices allow a news photograph to be tweaked by adjusting the color balance; the density (make the raw file lighter or darker); and shadows and highlights.⁣
What’s not acceptable is to remove, add, or change elements in the photograph. That would be altering the content. ⁣
For example, if there’s a telephone pole sticking out of a person’s head, you wouldn’t be allowed to remove it. ⁣
Or if someone mashes multiple family pictures together into one, that wouldn’t be acceptable. (Why, though, did it take AP nearly 2 hours to make this determination with the photo earlier this week?). ⁣
Let’s keep this in mind given the current political climate where a certain presidential candidate and his rabid supporters dismiss stories he or they don’t like as “fake news.” He has also said multiple times that published photographs of himself he didn’t like were “Photoshopped”. The photographs in question undoubtedly were processed through Photoshop, but not at all “altered.” (He did get away with posting a picture of himself on Facebook during his Presidency that made his fingers longer, hands bigger, and body 50 lbs lighter). ⁣
So, for the sake of consistency, let’s call fake photos what they are: “fake” or “altered” and stop using the word “Photoshopped.”

 

[canbelto]

Also idk if any of you trust Piers Morgan, but he said he heard whatever was going on with Kate was "really bad."

 

[Lynn226]

I think they couldn't win on this.

Btw, because of this "controversy," I have learned there is a free alternative to Photoshop called GIMP! Free!

And that's why I put the question at the end. Where's Kate?! could be the battle cry either way.

 

[MsZem]

Pete Souza made an interesting post about this:

That was such a cute picture.

 

[Lynn226]

Also idk if any of you trust Piers Morgan, but he said he heard whatever was going on with Kate was "really bad."

I heard this from a commentator who appeared on Megyn Kelly's podcast. I don't always listen to her, but I was curious what her guest, Dan Wooton, would say. He said she will recover even though it's a serious situation.

Kate Middleton's Health, Dan Wootton Speaks Out For First Time Since Cancelation, and Pressures on Parents, with Tim Carney | Ep. 745

Listen to this episode from The Megyn Kelly Show on Spotify. Megyn Kelly is joined by Dan Wootton, host of "Dan Wootton Outspoken,” for an exclusive interview to discuss the crazy censorship regime in the U.K., the on-air moment that led to his forced exit from GB News, what was really behind...

open.spotify.com

 

[puglover]

So much of this is just hard to understand. We know quite a bit about the surgery and how long she would be out of the public eye already so now, what is it people imagine they are hiding? How many actual options are there? 1. She is recovering well but it is taking time (as they initially said), 2. Her recovery is slower than expected but still progressing well, 3. There have been some complications that have caused concern but they are dealing with them and none have risen to the point they felt the public should be made aware, 4. Things have really not gone well and they are trying to get things sorted, 5. Her life and well being are at risk and they are not ready yet to disclose that.

All the malicious comments and gossip seem only to add pain, stress and dismay to an already very challenging time for them and shame on you Stephen Colbert and Perez Hilton and any others who want to kick someone when they are clearly down.

 

[overedge]

I heard this from a commentator who appeared on Megyn Kelly's podcast. I don't always listen to her, but I was curious what her guest, Dan Wooton, would say. He said she will recover even though it's a serious situation.

Kate Middleton's Health, Dan Wootton Speaks Out For First Time Since Cancelation, and Pressures on Parents, with Tim Carney | Ep. 745

Listen to this episode from The Megyn Kelly Show on Spotify. Megyn Kelly is joined by Dan Wootton, host of "Dan Wootton Outspoken,” for an exclusive interview to discuss the crazy censorship regime in the U.K., the on-air moment that led to his forced exit from GB News, what was really behind...

open.spotify.com

Dan Wooton got fired from the worst right-wing TV channel in the UK for saying misogynist things on air about another journalist. I think most people here know Megyn Kelly's history. Suffice it to say that I don't think Wootton is any kind of reliable source, and Kelly must be really be scraping the bottom of the barrel if that's the caliber of guest she's booking these days.

 

[Bunny Hop]

Of course I expect Colbert to make fun of the latest news in his nightly monologue but how do we go from making fun of photoshopped images and jokes about "where is Kate" to naming a woman that actually exists and has a life as a rumoured mistress? Just seems very reckless callous behaviour and I say that as a big longtime fan of Colbert.

I was also very disappointed in Colbert for that part of his monologue. It seemed uncharacteristic.

Also idk if any of you trust Piers Morgan, but he said he heard whatever was going on with Kate was "really bad."

Why on earth would anyone trust Piers Morgan?

 

[canbelto]

I hate Piers Morgan but he is friends with Camilla.

 

[marbri]

I hate Piers Morgan but he is friends with Camilla.

Piers Morgan addresses claims about his relationship with Queen Camilla in rant

Piers Morgan has hit out at Omid Scobie's new book, Endgame, in which the journalist makes claims about the presenter's "regular" phone calls with King Charles's wife Queen Camilla.

www.express.co.uk

 

[Parsley Sage]

Whatever your opinion of Piers is, Kate's medical situation was likely "really bad" which is why she was in the hospital for 13 days and said she would be away from Royal duties until at least Easter.

eta - We normally don't see pictures of Kate outside of her royal duties so the idea that she has disappeared or is missing is rather ridiculous.