(Headline USA) A photographer who attended the NCAA women’s swimming championships last week said she was “disappointed” that the Today show edited one of her pictures of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.
A side-by-side of photographer Erica Denhoff’s original picture of Thomas and the picture Today used in its broadcast revealed that Today edited Thomas’s features to soften them, likely in an attempt to make Thomas appear more feminine. Denhoff said it was obvious this editing was “intentional.”
“It’s really important as photojournalists that we transmit authentic photos that have not been altered,” she told the Washington Examiner. “I pride myself on providing authentic images as a photojournalist.”
When she first saw her image on the Today show, Denhoff said “I thought something was honestly wrong with the video.”
I know, right? Compare and contrast… pic.twitter.com/yQq5e5KnEY
— Sandieannie (@Sandieannie1910) March 17, 2022
“But then, I watched it again and thought, ‘Wait a minute, this appears to be intentional. Lia’s features are softened,’” she said. “I then went to my original photo, on the sites that they could access to license the photo, and compared it and immediately saw a difference.”
Denhoff said that it appears Today edited the vast majority of the pictures they used in their March 17 segment about Thomas.
“To me, it definitely seems like something was going on with the airbrushing/noise reduction of all of Lia’s photos in this segment,” she said.
Thomas has been the subject of nationwide controversy since he started setting records on the University of Pennsylvania’s women’s swimming team. Last week, the male-to-female transgender athlete took home one of the NCAA’s championship titles after finishing first in the 500-meter freestyle.
In response, several prominent athletes have demanded that Thomas’s win be disregarded. One of the girls forced to compete against him even accused him of robbing her of the chance to move ahead in the NCAA’s championships.
