World Press Photo suspends credit for historic 'Napalm Girl' photo

Shaki Sutharsan · CBC News

· Posted: May 16, 2025 6:59 PM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

World Press Photo announced Friday it volition suspend the authorship attribution of The Terror of War, besides known arsenic "Napalm Girl," the iconic photograph taken successful 1972 during the Vietnam War. 

An autarkic probe was launched by World Press Photo successful January aft a documentary released by The VII Foundation past twelvemonth questioned whether Huỳnh Công (Nick) Út, the Associated Press unit lensman credited with the shot, really took it. 

"Investigative investigation from World Press Photo indicated that, based connected investigation of location, distance, and the camera utilized connected that day, photographers Nguyễn Thành Nghệ oregon Huỳnh Công Phúc whitethorn person been amended positioned to instrumentality the photograph than Nick Út," World Press Photo stated successful a quality release. "Due to this existent doubt, World Press Photo has suspended the attribution to Nick Út."

Út, a young Vietnamese lensman who had been an Associated Press staffer astatine the clip the photograph was taken, has agelong been attributed for capturing the infinitesimal children fled from a napalm weaponry onslaught carried retired by a South Vietnamese craft connected its ain troops and civilians. The photograph was awarded The World Press Photo of the Year successful 1973 and a Pulitzer Prize successful that aforesaid year. 

The Stringer, The VII Foundation's 2024 documentary, alleged that the photograph was really taken by Nguyễn Thành Nghệ, a Vietnamese subject lensman who was a stringer astatine the time, and was misattributed to Út.

AP conducted its ain astir year-long investigation, yet concluding that "there is not the 'definitive evidence' required by AP's standards to alteration the recognition of the 53-year-old photograph."

Bao Nguyen, The Stringer's director, issued a connection via The VII Foundation's website pursuing World Press Photo's suspension of attribution, saying the announcement "signals a turning point."

"This movie is besides astir powerfulness – who gets to beryllium seen, who is believed, and who gets to constitute history," Nguyen's connection said. "It affirms the request to look again astatine the stories we thought we knew."

Út's lawyer, James Hornstein, has disputed the film's claims.

He told the Associated Press that his lawsuit hadn't spoken to World Press Photo aft immoderate archetypal interaction earlier The Stringer was released. "It seems they had already made up their caput to punish Nick Ut from the start," helium said. Hornstein did not instantly respond to a petition from CBC News.

World Press Photo said successful its merchandise that "the photograph itself remains undisputed," stressing that the World Press Photo grant it received for capturing the historical infinitesimal "remains a fact."

"This remains contested history, and it is imaginable that the writer of the photograph volition ne'er beryllium afloat confirmed. The suspension of the authorship attribution stands unless it is proved otherwise."