Associated Press finds 'no definitive evidence' to change credit for famous Vietnam War photo

Months after the release of a film that questions who took an iconic Vietnam War image of a naked girl running from a napalm attack, The Associated Press said Tuesday it had found “no definitive evidence” to warrant changing a nearly 53-year-old photo credit.

The AP released a 96-page report — its second examination in less than four months — about who actually took the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo credited to Nick Ut that became one of the defining images of the 20th century. A documentary shown at Sundance in January, “The Stringer,” asserts that it was actually shot by another man, Nguyen Thanh Nghe, but that credit was given to Ut, an AP staff photographer.

The AP concluded that it was “possible” Ut took the photo, but it was unable to be proven conclusively due to the passage of time, absence of key evidence, limitations of technology and the deaths of several key people involved.

At the same time, AP found no proof that Nguyen took the photo, the report said.

“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, an AP vice president who heads global news production. “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 latest study involved further interviews, examination of cameras, building a 3D model of the scene and studying photo negatives that survive from June 8, 1972, the date of the photo.

The report revealed inconsistencies on both sides. The prize-winning photo was apparently taken on a Pentax camera, not a Leica as Ut had long claimed. Nguyen told AP he was not working for NBC that day, as was earlier asserted. Of 10 people on the scene that day that the AP reached, Nguyen is the only one who believes that Ut didn't take the picture, the report said.

The report said that believing Nguyen's story would require several leaps of faith, including believing that the only time he ever sold a photo to a Western news agency it turned out to be one of the most famous images of the century.

Ut, who has strongly maintained that the photo is his, said Tuesday he was gratified by the findings of AP's investigation.

“This whole thing has been very difficult for me and has caused great pain,” he said in a statement. “I'm glad the record has been set straight.”

___

David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social