 "Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Nick Ut, centre, 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. File Image/AP")
One of the most haunting images ever captured in the history of photojournalism — a naked, terrified child fleeing a napalm bombing during the Vietnam War — has found itself at the centre of a growing controversy over who actually took it.
For over five decades, this photograph, officially titled The Terror of War but more commonly known as the Napalm Girl, has been credited to Nick Ut, a then 21-year-old Vietnamese photojournalist working for the Associated Press (AP).
Ut’s photograph, taken on June 8, 1972, just outside the village of Trảng Bàng, depicted nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc running along a road with her body burned and clothes torn off after a South Vietnamese airstrike dropped napalm near where she and her family had taken refuge.
The image quickly became one of the defining visuals of the Vietnam War, published on the front pages of over 20 major US newspapers and later awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the 1973 World Press Photo of the Year.
However, more than 50 years later, a recent documentary and subsequent investigations have cast doubt on the long-standing narrative surrounding the photograph’s origin.
The controversy, explained
In January 2025, a film titled The Stringer, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, brought renewed scrutiny to the photograph’s authorship.
Directed by Bao Nguyen, the documentary introduces an alternate account, suggesting that the image may have been taken by a different Vietnamese photographer, Nguyen Thành Nghe.
According to the film, Nghe, who worked as a driver for NBC but also sold photographs as a freelancer, might have been the true author of the iconic image.
Several witnesses in the documentary — including Nghe’s daughter Jannie, his brother (who says he delivered the film to the AP), former AP photo editor Carl Robinson, and other photojournalists who worked in Saigon — support the claim that Nghe sold the photograph to Horst Faas, AP’s Saigon bureau photo chief, for $20 and a print.
The documentary also includes an analysis conducted by the French NGO Index, whose forensic experts examined photographs attributed to Ut and concluded it was “highly unlikely” he was the person who took the picture in question.
Nghe himself makes an appearance in the documentary to confirm his version of events.
Reaction from World Press Photo
Following the release of the documentary and growing media interest, the World Press Photo Foundation launched its own internal investigation between January and May 2025.
On May 16, the organisation announced that it had decided to suspend the attribution of authorship for the 1972 award-winning photo.
The review examined elements such as the positioning of photographers on the scene, distance from the subjects, and camera models used that day. It concluded that either Nguyen Thành Nghe or another Vietnamese photographer, Huỳnh Công Phúc, might have been in a better location to capture the image than Ut.
While suspending the author attribution, World Press Photo made clear that it was not retracting the award. “The photograph itself remains undisputed,” said the organisation in a statement. “And the World Press Photo award for this significant photo of a major moment in 20th-century history remains a fact.”
The foundation’s executive director, Joumana El Zein Khoury, stated that the decision was grounded in its core principles. “Based on these findings and according to our values of accuracy, trustworthiness and diversity, we draw conclusions with regards to attribution,” she said.
“It is important to state that the picture itself is undisputed and it is without question that this photograph represents a real moment in history that continues to reverberate in Vietnam, the United States, and globally.”
AP maintains Ut as credited photographer
In response to the growing challenge to the photograph’s authorship, the Associated Press undertook a renewed internal investigation — its second in less than four months. On May 13, the AP published a 96-page report detailing the findings of its latest inquiry.
The AP stated that while it found it “possible” Ut took the photograph, there was no conclusive evidence to firmly confirm or deny that claim. It also found no solid proof that Nguyen Thành Nghe had taken the image instead.
“We left nothing uncovered that we’re aware of and we’ve done it with a great deal of respect to everybody involved,” said Derl McCrudden, AP’s vice-president of global news production.
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“It makes no difference to us if we changed the credit, but it has to be based on facts and evidence. And there is no definitive evidence proving that Nick Ut did not take this picture.”
The AP’s investigation included interviews with individuals present on June 8, 1972, forensic analysis of the cameras, surviving negatives from that day, and even the creation of a 3D model of the scene. However, the report acknowledged inconsistencies in the narratives on both sides.
It pointed out that the photo had likely been taken using a Pentax camera, contradicting Ut’s long-standing claim that he used a Leica. It also noted that Nguyen himself had revised earlier accounts, stating he was not working for NBC on that particular day.
Out of the 10 people the AP managed to interview who were present at the scene, only Nguyen contested Ut’s claim to authorship.
Moreover, the AP’s report concluded that accepting Nguyen’s story required “several leaps of faith,” including believing that the only time he ever sold a photograph to a Western media outlet happened to coincide with capturing one of the most globally recognised images of the century.
The story behind the photograph
The day the photo was taken, South Vietnamese forces had been attempting to retake Trảng Bàng from communist troops.
After several days of fighting, the South Vietnamese air force deployed Skyraider planes to bomb what they believed were enemy positions. Unbeknownst to them, the civilians — including Kim Phuc and her family — were still sheltering in a nearby Buddhist temple.
When the planes dropped napalm, panic broke out. Soldiers and civilians fled, including Kim Phuc, who tore off her burning clothes and ran onto Route 1. Ut, along with other journalists, was already stationed near the village, anticipating military action.
After taking several photographs, including the now-famous shot, Ut assisted the injured children. He placed them in his van and drove nearly 30 minutes to a hospital.
There, doctors initially refused to admit them due to a lack of space. Ut intervened by presenting his press credentials and warning staff that the image would be seen across the world. “If one of them dies you’ll be in trouble,” he told the hospital, according to a 2015 Vanity Fair interview.
He then returned to the AP office in Saigon, where he developed the film. Several of the images from that day were powerful, but one stood out immediately. “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,” Ut later said.
Their prediction proved accurate. In 1973, the photograph won both the Pulitzer Prize and the World Press Photo of the Year award.
The enduring legacy of the ‘Napalm Girl’
Though it did not single-handedly end the Vietnam War or dramatically shift public opinion — which had already soured by the early 1970s — the photo became a potent symbol of the conflict’s human cost and helped galvanize anti-war sentiment globally.
Phan Thi Kim Phuc, who survived the attack after spending 14 months in hospitals, later became a peace activist. Residing in Canada now, she remains in contact with Ut to this day.
Her aspirations of becoming a doctor were cut short after the communist regime in Vietnam removed her from medical school, using her instead for propaganda purposes.
Meanwhile, Ut retired in later years but continues to defend his place in history. “This whole thing has been very difficult for me and has caused great pain,” he told the AP.
He also maintains that powerful war photography remains relevant even in the digital age, especially in the context of modern conflicts like the war in Ukraine .
As for the image itself, World Press Photo acknowledges that the question of who took it may never be definitively answered.
“This remains contested history, and it is possible that the author of the photograph will never be fully confirmed,” the group stated. “The suspension of the authorship attribution stands unless it is proved otherwise.”
With inputs from agencies