Chennai flood photo row: Government expresses regret, says pictures were merged

Facing flak for posting a doctored photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi surveying Tamil Nadu floods from a helicopter, PIB today expressed regret saying the incident happened due to an "error of judgment".

The doctored photo of Narendra Modi surveying the flood situation in Chennai, as released by PIB.

The government on Friday expressed regret for releasing a doctored photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducting an aerial survey of flood-hit areas in Tamil Nadu.

“Out of the seven pictures released, one picture used the technique of merging two pictures,” the Information & Broadcasting ministry said.

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Stating that “this is being referred to as ‘Photoshopping’ in sections of media”, the ministry added that “this happened due to error of judgement and the picture was subsequently deleted”. The ministry further said that the Press Information Bureau (PIB) “regrets” the release of picture.

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Government sources, meanwhile, told The Indian Express that PIB officials involved in releasing photographs have been asked to report the standard operating procedures they have in place.

On Thursday, the PIB had released a photograph of PM Narendra Modi conducting an aerial survey of the flood situation. The photograph clearly showed a flooded locality outside the aircraft’s window. It was an exact copy of another photograph tweeted by PIB that did not have the same visual outside the window.

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