BBC Newsnight has denied photoshopping an image of Jeremy Corbyn to make him look more Russian.

The Labour party leader made headlines last week when he urged Theresa May to take a less aggressive approach with Putin's government about the poisoning of a suspected Russian spy on British soil.

And, while reporting about the incident on Newsnight on Thursday evening (March 15), the BBC used a picture of Corbyn that some suggested had been altered to "make him look Russian", sparking an immediate backlash on social media.

In the image, Mr Corbyn can be seen wearing a hat, which some claim was photoshopped, against a backdrop of Moscow's Red Square.

However, the programme's acting editor Jess Brammar has since tweeted a denial that the hat had been altered, citing "tech details" as the reason for the colour change of the hat, while excusing the Russia background as a "rehash" of a previously covered story.

"Newsnight didn't photoshop a hat," she said.

"Our (excellent,hardworking) graphics team explained the image has had the contrast increased & been colour treated, usual treatment for screen graphics as they need more contrast to work through the screens.

"If you look, you can see it's the same hat in silhouette.

"Apparently (forgive me for passing on tech details I don't understand firsthand) some detail might also have been lost with it going through the screen and then being filmed back through a camera, again the standard effect on images on that big back panel.

"And finally, the Russia background was a rehash of one Newsnight used a few weeks ago, for a story about Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary."

Hmmm.


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Louise McCreesh
Louise McCreesh is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy.