AFP withdraws ‘inappropriate’ portrait of grinning French president
AFP has moved to delete an unflattering depiction of the French president it released to newswires, too late to prevent an internet frenzy as French social media users share and comment on the unflattering portrait.
It depicts Francois Hollande bearing a clownish smile whilst sat in front of a blackboard on which the words ‘Today, it’s back to school’ have been scrawled.
The snap was taken during a publicity shoot and was captioned: ‘During a visit to the school Denain Michelet, September 3, 2013, François Hollande smiles, chairing a panel discussion on the reform of school timetables established by the government.’
Soon the image was retracted however owing to the inappropriateness of the President’s expression but the news agency insisted it had not been pressured to act by the Elysee Palace.
Philippe Massonnet, news director at the state-funded agency, said: “Has this photo been withdrawn because the Elysée intervened to ask us to do so? The answer is no, that’s absolutely clear.
“It was decided to kill the photo as we considered in retrospect that it provided nothing in news terms.”