‘Napalm Girl’ may be work of different photographer, World Press Photo says

The World Press Photo radical has suspended the attribution of authorship for 1 connected the astir celebrated property photographs ever taken, aft a caller documentary challenged 50 years of accepted journalism history.

The photo, officially titled The Terror of War but colloquially known arsenic Napalm Girl, remains 1 of the astir indelible images of the US warfare successful Vietnam. Since its work successful June 1972, it has been officially attributed to Nick Ut, a Vietnamese lensman moving with the Associated Press successful Saigon.

The AP and Ut person agelong maintained that Ut, past 21 years old, took the photo, which went connected to triumph the World Press Photo of the Year grant successful 1973 and established Ut arsenic a venerable photojournalist.

But a caller documentary challenged that history, alternatively proposing that the photo, which depicts a bare nine-year-old miss named Phan Thi Kim Phuc arsenic she flees a napalm onslaught successful the South Vietnamese colony of Trảng Bàng, was taken by a antheral named Nguyen Thành Nghe. The Stringer, which premiered astatine the Sundance movie festival successful January, claimed that Nghe, a operator for NBC who sold photos to the AP arsenic a freelancer, was denied recognition successful favour of Ut due to the fact that helium was not AP staff.

The movie prompted “deep reflection” astatine World Press Photo, which conducted its ain investigation, the results of which were made nationalist connected Friday 16 May. The in-house analysis, conducted betwixt January and May 2025, concluded “based connected investigation of location, distance, and the camera utilized connected that day” that “photographers Nguyễn Thành Nghệ oregon Huỳnh Công Phúc whitethorn person been amended positioned to instrumentality the photograph than Nick Út.”

The suspension lone applies to the photo’s authorship, and does not rescind the 1973 Photo of the Year award. “The photograph itself remains undisputed,” the radical said, “and the World Press Photo grant for this important photograph of a large infinitesimal successful 20th period past remains a fact.”

Nick Ut, center Photograph: Gregorio Borgia/AP

“Based connected these findings and according to our values of accuracy, trustworthiness and diversity, we gully conclusions with regards to attribution,” Joumana El Zein Khoury, the group’s enforcement director, said successful a property release. “It is important to authorities that the representation itself is undisputed and it is without question that this photograph represents a existent infinitesimal successful past that continues to reverberate successful Vietnam, the United States, and globally.”

Earlier this month, the Associated Press announced that it recovered “no definitive evidence” to warrant changing the photo’s authorship, and released a 96-page report connected the substance – its second successful 4 months – based connected its ain interior investigation. The AP concluded that it was “possible” Ut took the photo, and recovered nary grounds that Nguyen took it instead. The substance was incapable to beryllium proven conclusively, it added, owed to the transition of time, the lack of cardinal evidence, the limitations of exertion and the deaths of respective cardinal radical involved.

“We near thing uncovered that we’re alert of and we’ve done it with a large woody of respect to everybody involved,” said Derl McCrudden, an AP vice-president of planetary quality production, successful a statement. “It makes nary quality to america if we changed the credit, but it has to beryllium based connected facts and evidence. And determination is nary definitive grounds proving that Nick Ut did not instrumentality this picture.”

The Stringer, directed by Bao Nguyen, enlisted respective witnesses to reason that Nghe sold the photograph to the Saigon bureau photograph chief, Horst Faas, for $20 and a print, including Nghe’s brother, who claims helium brought the movie to the AP; Nghe’s girl Jannie; Carl Robinson, a longtime AP photograph exertion successful Saigon who archetypal contacted the film-makers; and respective of Robinson’s erstwhile photojournalist colleagues. The investigators besides consulted forensic experts with the French NGO Index, who recovered it “highly unlikely” that Ut took the photograph based connected the different images AP credited to him that day.

The AP conducted its ain forensic probe involving further interviews, the introspection of cameras and surviving negatives from that day, and a 3D exemplary of the scene. The resulting study revealed “inconsistencies connected some sides” but concluded that buying Nghe’s communicative would “require respective leaps of faith”, specified arsenic believing that the lone clip helium sold photos to a occidental quality agency, it turned retired to beryllium 1 of the astir celebrated images of the 20th century.

Nghe, who made a astonishment quality astatine the Stringer’s Sundance premiere, confirms his relationship successful the film. Ut, meanwhile, continues to support his authorship, and told the AP that the quality “has been precise hard for maine and has caused large pain”.

But for World Press Photo, the authoritative writer is now: unknown. “This remains contested history, and it is imaginable that the writer of the photograph volition ne'er beryllium afloat confirmed,” the radical said. “The suspension of the authorship attribution stands unless it is proved otherwise.”