A wire service removed a November photo of press secretary Karoline Leavitt after the White House complained about the image, according to a report in Status.
A photographer for Agence France-Presse, the global news agency, took a photo of Leavitt during a pre-Thanksgiving press briefing that featured Leavitt, her child and a turkey in the James S. Brady Briefing Room. The image was published on the agency’s wire service and was eventually used in a Swiss newspaper in a story about Leavitt.
But the photo ultimately vanished from the photo libraries of AFP and Getty Images, an AFP partner that distributes some of the agency’s photos, after the White House told AFP that it was displeased with the picture.
The White House did not respond to an immediate request for comment. Grégoire Lemarchand, the AFP’s director of brand and communications, told TheWrap the agency’s decision to un-publish the photo was an internal one owing to the image‘s quality — not the Trump administration’s complaints — and that editor-in-chief Mehdi Lebouachera had already expressed reservations about the image.
“During high-volume events like White House briefings, our desk often receives a large influx of photos directly from the photographer’s camera, which are moved quickly by the editor on duty to ensure timely delivery,” Lemarchand said. “Upon a subsequent review of the day’s production, our editor-in-chief determined that this specific image did not meet our editorial standards. The angle was poor and, more importantly, we already had a selection of superior images from the same event available on the wire.”
“While we were made aware that White House staff found the photo unflattering, we want to be clear that there was no formal request to remove it, nor was there any external pressure involved,” he added.
Anne Flanagan, Getty Images’ vice president of brand and communications, also told TheWrap that AFP “maintains full editorial control over their imagery, including decisions around availability, updates and withdrawals” and that the White House never contacted Getty about the image.
The revelation about the White House’s complaints comes weeks after the Pentagon reportedly blocked photojournalists from Iran War press briefings after staffers deemed some photos of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from the briefings “unflattering.” Some press photographers were eventually allowed into a subsequent briefing.
