The authorship of one of the world's most famous press photos was questioned by the organization that honored it 50 years ago with “Photo of the Year”.
Nick Ut won the World Press Photo Award for the photo that is popularly known as “Napalm Girl”, but officially entitled The Terror of War, in 1973.
The striking image of a naked and terrified Kim Phuc who ran away from a Napalm attack became a symbol of the tragedy of the war and remains one of the most iconic photos in the American war in Vietnam.
However, World Press Photo announced on Friday that it has suspended “his attribution” to UT because of doubts about who actually took it.
The body's report contributes to the mud of a problem that the photographic community has split since the Stringer, a film released earlier this year, questioned the authorship of Mr Ut.
Nick Ut holds a copy of the disputed photo next to Kim Phuc, left, in the Vatican in 2022 – Gregorio Borgia/AP
World Press Photo said the probe discovered that two other photographers – Nguyen Thanh Nghe, the subject of the film and Huynh Conguc – “may be better positioned” to make the shot.
“We conclude that the level of doubt is too important to maintain the existing attribution,” said Joumana El Zein Khoury, executive director of World Press Photo.
“At the same time, without conclusive evidence that definitively points to another photographer, we cannot allocate authorship either.”
World Press Photo, an organization whose prices are considered influential in photography, will not try to restore the Cash Award to Mr UT, a spokeswoman said.
Mr. Ut's lawyer, James Hornstein, said that his client had not spoken with World Press photo after a first contact before the Stringer was released. “It seems that they had decided to punish Nick Ut from the start,” he said.
Gary Knight, a producer of the Stringer, is four -time judge of the World Press Photo Awards and a consultant from the World Press Photo Foundation.
After two studies, Associated Press (AP) – for whom Mr Ut worked at the time – said it found no definitive evidence to justify Mr Ut's photo credit.
'Impossible to prove'
The AP said it was possible that Mr. Ut took the photo, but the passing of time made it impossible to fully prove and could not find any evidence to prove that someone else did.
On Friday it said that the standards “require proof and security to remove a credit and we have discovered that it is impossible to prove exactly what happened that day on the road or in the (AP) desk more than 50 years ago.”
“We understand that World Press photo has taken various action based on the same available information, and that is their privilege,” said the statement. “There is no doubt about AP's ownership of the photo.”
In the meantime, the Pulitzer price that Mr UT is awarded seems safe for the photo.
The Pulitzers depend on news agencies that enter the prices to determine authorship and Marjorie Miller, a manager – and a former AP Senior Editor – point out the investigation of the AP that shows insufficient evidence to withdraw credit.
“The board is not currently anticipating future action,” she said on Friday.
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