What? Grazia published an altered photograph of the Duchess of Cambridge from her wedding day. The alterations, among other things, made the Duchess' waist appear thinner.
So what? The press industry governing body, the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), believed that Grazia's publication of the image had breached the Editors' Code and negotiated for Grazia to issue an apology.
Grazia's explanation for the alteration was that, to achieve a photograph of the Duchess on her own (and not next to Prince William as in the original), her left arm had been mirrored to 'complete the picture'. This is apparently a common technique among glossy magazines. Grazia stated its apologies if the process had the inadvertent effect of making the Duchess 'appear slimmer'.
The Editors' Code states that the press:
"must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures".
The code empowers the PCC to decide on the severity of any infringements and what corrections or apologies may be required. The outcome of this episode represents a positive result for the PCC, which champions a 'name and shame' approach (as it is not able to impose punishments against infringers of the Editors' Code). The PCC's intervention caused Grazia to go so far as to state that it:
"takes the issue of women's body image very seriously and [would] never 'slim down' a picture of a female role model".
The encounter serves as a warning for other press outfits and is a further development in the ongoing debate over the acceptable limitations of 'photoshopping' and other post-production techniques for commercial media organisations looking for the 'perfect' shot.
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