Latest news with #PhotooftheYear
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
World Press Photo suspends Nick Ut's credit for iconic 'Napalm Girl' Vietnam War image
More than 50 years after Nick Ut's Pulitzer Prize-winning image of a nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc fleeing a napalm attack in the South Vietnamese village of Trảng Bàng, a prestigious photography organisation has cast fresh doubt over who actually took it. World Press Photo, which awarded the image its 1973 Photo of the Year, recently announced that it has suspended its attribution to Ut, following the release of a new documentary, The Stringer, that challenges the long-accepted account of the photo's origins. The organisation said its independent investigation raised questions regarding Ut's role and suggested that two Vietnamese photographers, Nguyen Thanh Nghe - highlighted in The Stringer - and Huynh Cong Phuc, may have been better positioned to take the image. Related Culture Re-View: A photograph changes the course of the Vietnam War From skater girls to climate illusions: Meet the winners of the 2025 Sony World Photography Awards The Stringer, which premiered at Sundance in January earlier this year, claims Nghe sold the photo to AP's Saigon bureau chief for $20 and a print, and forensic experts from the French NGO Index also weighed in, concluding it's 'highly unlikely' that Nick Ut took the photo based on comparisons with other images credited to him that day. 'We conclude that the level of doubt is too significant to maintain the existing attribution,' said Joumana El Zein Khoury, executive director of World Press Photo. 'At the same time, lacking conclusive evidence pointing definitively to another photographer, we cannot reassign authorship, either.' Ut will not be asked to return his cash prize from the World Press Photo 1973 Photo of the Year. The Associated Press, where Ut worked at the time, have said that after conducting two internal investigations it couldn't find any definitive proof to strip Ut's credit and no compelling evidence anyone else took the photo. 'We understand World Press Photo has taken different action based on the same available information, and that is their prerogative,' the statement said. 'There is no question over AP's ownership of the photo.'
Euronews
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Who really took the Napalm Girl photo? Iconic image credit 'suspended'
More than 50 years after Nick Ut's Pulitzer Prize-winning image of a nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc fleeing a napalm attack in the South Vietnamese village of Trảng Bàng, a prestigious photography organisation has cast fresh doubt over who actually took it. World Press Photo, which awarded the image its 1973 Photo of the Year, recently announced that it has suspended its attribution to Ut, following the release of a new documentary, The Stringer, that challenges the long-accepted account of the photo's origins. The organisation said its independent investigation raised questions regarding Ut's role and suggested that two Vietnamese photographers, Nguyen Thanh Nghe - highlighted in The Stringer - and Huynh Cong Phuc, may have been better positioned to take the image. The Stringer, which premiered at Sundance in January earlier this year, claims Nghe sold the photo to AP's Saigon bureau chief for $20 and a print, and forensic experts from the French NGO Index also weighed in, concluding it's 'highly unlikely' that Nick Ut took the photo based on comparisons with other images credited to him that day. 'We conclude that the level of doubt is too significant to maintain the existing attribution,' said Joumana El Zein Khoury, executive director of World Press Photo. 'At the same time, lacking conclusive evidence pointing definitively to another photographer, we cannot reassign authorship, either.' Ut will not be asked to return his cash prize from the World Press Photo 1973 Photo of the Year. The Associated Press, where Ut worked at the time, have said that after conducting two internal investigations it couldn't find any definitive proof to strip Ut's credit and no compelling evidence anyone else took the photo. 'We understand World Press Photo has taken different action based on the same available information, and that is their prerogative,' the statement said. 'There is no question over AP's ownership of the photo.'
7NEWS
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
Who took ‘Napalm Girl'? World Press Photo ‘suspends' attribution of historic Vietnam War image
World Press Photo has cast fresh doubt over the authorship of The Terror of War, a picture better known as Napalm Girl, amid growing debate about one of the 20th century's defining images. The organisation, which named the image Photo of the Year in 1973, announced Friday that it has 'suspended' its longstanding attribution to retired Associated Press (AP) photographer Nick Ut. An accompanying report said the 'visual and technical' evidence 'leans toward' an emerging theory that a Vietnamese freelance photographer, Nguyen Thanh Nghe, took the photo. It is the latest twist in a controversy sparked by The Stringer, a documentary that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January claiming Nghe, not Ut, captured the iconic photo of a naked girl fleeing a napalm attack during the Vietnam War. Nghe was one of more than a dozen people stationed at a highway checkpoint outside the village of Trang Bang on June 8, 1972, as nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc and other villagers were mistaken for the enemy and bombarded by the South Vietnamese air force. (A year later, Ut won the Pulitzer Prize for the picture.) The film contains allegations that Nghe sold his photo to the AP before editors intervened to credit Ut, who was the agency's staff photographer in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) at the time. CNN could not independently assess the claims because the film's producer, the VII Foundation, did not respond to multiple requests for a copy of the documentary, which has not yet been publicly released. Ut has since repeatedly dismissed allegations that he did not take the photo. A statement released on the Vietnamese American photographer's behalf by his attorney, Jim Hornstein, called World Press Photo's decision to suspend attribution 'deplorable and unprofessional.' The statement added that Nghe's claim is 'unsupported by a scintilla of corroborating evidence or eyewitness.' Earlier this month, the AP published a 96-page report on the matter. The investigation — which was based on eyewitness interviews, examination of cameras, a 3D model of the scene and surviving photo negatives — found 'no definitive evidence' to justify changing the attribution. While the agency acknowledged that the passage of time and absence of key evidence made it 'impossible to fully prove' whether Ut took the photo, crediting Nghe would 'require several leaps of faith.' But World Press Photo took a different stance, with executive director Joumana El Zein Khoury writing on the organisation's website that the 'level of doubt is too significant to maintain the existing attribution.' 'At the same time, lacking conclusive evidence pointing definitively to another photographer, we cannot reassign authorship either,' she continued, adding: 'The suspension will remain in place unless further evidence can clearly confirm or refute the original authorship.' Citing the AP investigation and the documentary, which included visual analysis by Paris-based research group Index, World Press Photo said there are 'substantial and credible reasons' to doubt the existing attribution. The organisation's report centres on several 'unresolved issues,' including the camera used to take the photo and analyses of Ut's position relative to the image's vantage point. A reconstruction of the scene by Index, based on a 'geo-based timeline,' suggested that Ut would have needed to have 'taken the photo, run 60 metres, and returned calmly, all within a brief window of time,' World Press Photo said. The organisation described that scenario as 'highly unlikely' though 'not impossible.' The AP, meanwhile, has disputed the 60m figure, saying that Ut's purported position on the highway — which is based on 'shaky,' low-resolution footage filmed by a TV cameraman — could have been as little as 32.8m away from where the image was captured, and that the photographer 'could have been in the position to have taken the shot.' World Press Photo also pointed to ongoing questions over equipment. The AP has previously said it is 'likely' the photo was taken using a Pentax camera, which Nghe is known to have used. Ut, however, had frequently said he carried cameras by Leica and Nikon. When questioned for the AP's investigation, Ut told the agency he also used Pentax cameras. The photo agency said it subsequently found negatives in its archives, shot by Ut in Vietnam, with 'the characteristics of a Pentax camera.' World Press Photo also noted the possibility that another person altogether — Vietnamese military photographer Huynh Cong Phuc, who sometimes sold images to news agencies — took the photo. The AP's investigation noted that he, like Ut and Nghe, 'could have been in the position to have taken the shot.' Earlier this month, Ut welcomed the findings of the AP's latest report, saying in a statement that it 'showed what has always been known, that the credit for my photo … is correct.' He added: 'This whole thing has been very difficult for me and has caused great pain.' Appearing in the world's newspapers the day after it was taken, The Terror of War became a symbol of opposition to the Vietnam War. In the decades since, Ut has campaigned for peace alongside the photo's subject, now known as Kim Phuc Phan Thi, who survived her injuries and was granted political asylum by Canada in 1992. Speaking to CNN to mark the image's 50th anniversary in 2022, the photographer recounted his version of events, saying: 'I saw Kim running and she (screamed in Vietnamese) 'Too hot! Too hot!' 'When I took the photo of her, I saw that her body was burned so badly, and I wanted to help her right away. I put all my camera gear down on the highway and put water on her body.' Ut said he put the injured children in his van and drove them for 30 minutes to a nearby hospital. 'When I went back to my office, the (dark room technician) and everyone who saw the picture told me right away it was very powerful, and that the photo would win a Pulitzer,' he added.
New Indian Express
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
World Press Photo suspends credit for 'Napalm Girl' picture
World Press Photo suspended on Friday the credit for who took one of the most iconic pictures in history, the Vietnam War image "Napalm Girl", after doubts were raised over the photograph's authorship. The organisation, which awards one of the world's most prestigious photojournalism prizes, said it carried out its own investigation into the haunting 1972 photo -- which shows a nine-year-old girl fleeing naked from a napalm strike -- after the premiere of the film "The Stringer". The documentary chronicles an investigation into rumours that the image, which helped change global perceptions of the US war in Vietnam, was taken by a little-known local freelancer, not the Associated Press (AP) staff photographer Nick Ut, who won a Pulitzer Prize for the photo. World Press Photo, which awarded its own Photo of the Year prize to Ut in 1973 for the black-and-white image -- whose official title is "The Terror of War" -- said the film had "prompted deep reflection" at the organisation. After investigating from January to May, it determined that "based on analysis of location, distance, and the camera used on that day", two other photographers "may have been better positioned to take the photograph than Nick Ut".
France 24
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- France 24
World Press Photo suspends credit for 'Napalm Girl' picture
The organisation, which awards one of the world's most prestigious photojournalism prizes, said it carried out its own investigation into the haunting 1972 photo -- which shows a nine-year-old girl fleeing naked from a napalm strike -- after the premiere of the film "The Stringer". The documentary chronicles an investigation into rumours that the image, which helped change global perceptions of the US war in Vietnam, was taken by a little-known local freelancer, not the Associated Press (AP) staff photographer Nick Ut, who won a Pulitzer Prize for the photo. World Press Photo, which awarded its own Photo of the Year prize to Ut in 1973 for the black-and-white image -- whose official title is "The Terror of War" -- said the film had "prompted deep reflection" at the organisation. After investigating from January to May, it determined that "based on analysis of location, distance, and the camera used on that day", two other photographers "may have been better positioned to take the photograph than Nick Ut". "World Press Photo has suspended the attribution of 'The Terror of War' to Nick Ut, from today," it said in a statement. The organisation named the two other photographers as Nguyen Thanh Nghe and Huynh Cong Phuc, both present for the infamous scene in the southern village of Trang Bang on June 8, 1972. In "The Stringer", which premiered at the Sundance film festival in January, Nguyen told the documentary's makers he was certain the photo was his. AP, which said earlier this month it would continue crediting the photo to Ut, said in a statement it stood by that decision. But it acknowledged its own investigation had raised "real questions that we may never be able to answer" about the picture's authorship. "We have found that it is impossible to prove exactly what happened that day on the road or in the bureau over 50 years ago," it said. Ut insisted the image was his in a February Facebook post, calling claims to the contrary "a slap in the face". The girl in the picture, Kim Phuc, survived her injuries, and is today a Canadian citizen and outspoken advocate for child war victims. World Press Photo emphasised that the authenticity of the image itself was not in question. "It is without question that this photograph represents a real moment in history that continues to reverberate in Vietnam, the United States, and globally," said executive director Joumana El Zein Khoury. © 2025 AFP
