Particle.news

Download on the App Store

AP Reaffirms Nick Ut as Photographer of Iconic Vietnam War Photo

A 96-page AP report finds no definitive evidence to change the decades-old credit for the Pulitzer-winning 'Napalm Girl' image, despite recent claims and unresolved inconsistencies.

FILE - Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Nick Ut, center, flanked by Kim Phuc, left, holds the" Napalm Girl", his Pulitzer Prize winning photo as they wait to meet with Pope Francis during the weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, May 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
FILE - South Vietnamese forces follow after terrified children, including 9-year-old Kim Phuc, center, as they run down Route 1 near Trang Bang after an aerial napalm attack on suspected Viet Cong hiding places, June 8, 1972. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)
Kim Phuc stands beside the 1972 Pulitzer winning photograph of her running naked and burnt by napalm during the Vietnam War, as she addresses delegates during a 2013 conference in Nagoya, Japan
Nick Ut, the AP staff photographer credited with the photo of a nine-year-old girl fleeing naked from a napalm strike, won a Pulitzer Prize

Overview

  • The Associated Press has concluded its second investigation into the 'Napalm Girl' photo, reaffirming Nick Ut as the credited photographer.
  • The review, prompted by the documentary 'The Stringer,' found no proof supporting Nguyen Thanh Nghe's claim to authorship of the image.
  • The investigation utilized interviews, camera analyses, 3D modeling, and surviving photo negatives but cited the passage of time and lack of key evidence as barriers to definitive conclusions.
  • The report noted inconsistencies, including the photo being taken on a Pentax camera rather than the Leica Ut claimed to have used, and contradictions in Nguyen's account.
  • Of the 10 people present at the scene interviewed by AP, Nguyen is the only one disputing Ut's authorship, which Ut continues to strongly maintain.