By Lindsey Bahr
After half a century of public silence, a freelance photographer from Vietnam has claimed he took one of the most renowned and impactful photos of the 20th century – the image of a naked girl fleeing a napalm attack in South Vietnam that has long been credited to a staff photographer from The Associated Press.
Nguyen Thanh Nghe claimed authorship of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “napalm girl” photograph, known as The Terror of War, in the new documentary, The Stringer, and on the sidelines of its premiere at the weekend at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
The iconic photograph, taken in 1972, at the centre of a dispute over authorship. Credit: Nick Ut
Meanwhile, AP has conducted its own investigation and concluded it has no reason to believe that anyone other than the long-credited photographer, Nick Ut, took the picture.
Nguyen joined the filmmakers for the post-screening Q&A where he said, through a translator, “I took the photo”. The audience cheered enthusiastically. He did not say why he had waited so long to make the claim.
AP said it was calling on the filmmakers to release their contributors, including Nguyen, from non-disclosure agreements and to share a visual analysis they had commissioned, and the film itself, to enable a full assessment of the claim.
“We cannot state more clearly that The Associated Press is only interested in the facts and a truthful history of this iconic photo,” the agency said.
Nguyen claims he took the iconic photo of Kim Phuc on June 8, 1972. He said he went to the town of Trang Bang that day as a driver for an NBC news crew and captured the image of Phuc running down the street, crying and naked with arms outstretched. He said he sold his image to AP for $20, and they gave him a print of the photo that his wife later destroyed.
The Stringer’s makers at Sundance: Bao Nguyen, Nguyen Than Nghe, Carl Robinson and Gary Knight.Credit: Getty Images
AP representatives, who saw the film for the first time at the premiere, are contesting the film’s implication that the agency had reviewed the filmmakers’ findings and dismissed them.
“As recently as December, we reiterated our request to see the filmmakers’ full materials, and they did not respond, nor did they include AP’s full response in the film,” said an AP spokesperson, Lauren Easton. “We were surprised and disappointed that the film portrayed AP as having reviewed the film’s materials and being dismissive of the allegations, which is completely false.”
The film’s investigation was led by the husband-and-wife team of Gary Knight, founder of the VII Foundation, and producer Fiona Turner. Bao Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American filmmaker, directed.
“I’m not a journalist by any stretch of the imagination,” Nguyen said. “I had a healthy skepticism, as I think anyone would, going against a 53-year-old truth ... But as a storyteller and a filmmaker, I thought it was both my responsibility and my privilege to be able to uplift the story of individuals like Nghe.”
Before having seen the film, the AP conducted its own investigation over six months and concluded it had “no reason to believe anyone other than Ut took the photo”.
“AP stands ready to review any and all evidence and new information about this photo,” Easton said.
Knight and Turner met with AP in London last June about the allegations. According to AP, the filmmakers requested the news organisation sign a non-disclosure agreement before providing their evidence. AP would not. The film suggests that evidence was presented to the AP, which the AP says is not true.
A primary source in the film is Carl Robinson, an AP photo editor in Saigon in 1972 who declined to use the picture on the grounds that the nudity was a breach of the agency’s policy. He was overruled by Horst Faas, AP’s Saigon chief of photos.
Robinson says in the film that Faas instructed him to “make it staff” and credit Ut for the photo. Both Faas and Yuichi “Jackson” Ishizaki, who developed the film, are dead. Robinson, 81, was dismissed by AP in 1978.
On Saturday, a Sundance Institute moderator asked Robinson why he had come forward with the allegations now. “I didn’t want to die before this story came out,” he said. “I wanted to find (Nghe) and say sorry.”
A variety of witnesses interviewed by AP, including renowned correspondents such as Fox Butterfield and Peter Arnett, and the photo’s subject herself, Phuc, say they are certain Ut took the photo.
The filmmakers claim their investigation took more than two years. They enlisted a French forensics team, INDEX, to help determine the likelihood of whether Ut had been in a position to take the photo. The forensics team concluded it was highly unlikely that Ut could have done it.
Ut’s lawyer, James Hornstein, said on Sunday: “In due course, we will proceed to right this wrong in a courtroom where Nick Ut’s reputation will be vindicated.”
Knight referenced AP’s investigation on Saturday, telling the audience that the company’s statement was available online. “They said they’re open always to examining the truth. And I think it was a very reasonable thing to say,” he said. “Our story is here and it’s here for you all to see.”
He added: “Things happen in the field in the heat of the moment ... We’re all stronger if we examine ourselves, ask tough questions, and we’re open and honest about what goes on in our profession. Now more than ever, I would argue.”
AP
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