No, a Murdoch newspaper is not urging readers to kick the Prime Minister out of office

^{By Catherine Smith}

A doctored image that purports to show the front page of a News Corp newspaper urging readers to vote Prime Minister Scott Morrison out of office has been repeatedly shared on social media ahead of the federal election on May 21.

The image shows the cover page of News Corp paper, The Daily Telegraph, depicting a photo of Mr Morrison, alongside the headline “Finally you now have the chance to…Kick This Rat Out.”

The image was posted on Facebook by AusPol’s right-wing lunatic watch — a page that claims to “expose the right-wing lunatics in Australia. MP's, journalists, commentators, voters and trolls on social media”. The page has more than 10,000 followers.

A reverse image search reveals that the original image was taken from the front page of The Daily Telegraph, published on August 5, 2013. It featured former Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, with the headline; “Finally, you have the chance to…kick this mob out”. 

But the image has been doctored to add Mr Morrison’s head to Mr Rudd’s body, and the headline has been altered to instead read “Kick this Rat Out”. The pink banner at the top of the page has also been changed from “It’s On: September 7 Election”, to “It’s On: May 21 Election”.

Dr Richard Matthews, a digital forensics expert who has worked with INTERPOL, told RMIT FactLab that it can be tricky to spot a doctored image but there are visual clues to look for. 

“The tell-tale signs to look for in a potential photo composite image are contradictory sources of light, shadows, reflections and physical properties that simply cannot exist in the real world,” he said.

“The shadows on Mr Morrison's face indicate that there is a light source coming from above and a second from behind him directed downward. However, the lighting on the shirt and tie show that there is a light source at a more general angle,” he said.

“The photo is taken on a higher resolution camera or simply taken closer to the subject. There is a sharp line of contrast around the neckline of the shirt and around the head itself,” he said.