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Mike Carlton calls Daily Telegraph ‘scum of the trade’ as editor apologises for photoshopping his face on Boston bombing victim

The image as it appeared in the Daily Telegraph yesterday

The image as it appeared in the Daily Telegraph yesterday

The editor of the Daily Telegraph has apologised “unreservedly” after it was revealed a photoshopped image making Mike Carlton look like a Palestinian fleeing an attack in Gaza was in fact a picture of a Boston marathon bombing victim.

In a statement to Mumbrella Paul Whittaker has said it was a “regrettable mistake” adding “I was unaware that that particular image had been partially used” and it had occurred in the art production process.

The image was one of three of Carlton carried in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph as part of the News Corp paper’s extensive coverage of his resignation from Fairfax after sending abusive emails and tweets to readers who had contacted him over a column he wrote on the Gaza conflict.

However, Carlton has condemned the paper’s use of the image as ” a typical piece of Daily Telegraph sewer journalism” telling Mumbrella: “It really is the scum of the trade that newspaper. To exploit the victim of a bombing attack like that is about as low as it gets but hardly surprising from Whittaker and his nasty little comic.”

The image had not been removed from the Daily Telegraph’s website as of 11.40am.

The use of the Boston bombing image was first revealed on the anti-News Corp The Daily Rupert Twitter account.

Earlier this week Essential Media’s annual survey listed the Daily Telegraph as Australia’s least trusted newspaper.

However News Corp has declined to say whether any members of staff have been disciplined or counselled over the incident, and whether the paper will review its policy on using photoshopped images to illustrate stories.

Whittaker’s statement in full: 

The photoshopped image was an amalgam of different images put together during the art production process.

I was unaware that that particular image had been partially used. It is an inadvertent but regrettable mistake for which The Daily Telegraph apologises unreservedly.

Nic Christensen and Alex Hayes

 

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