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“Nick Ut came with me on that assignment, but he didn’t take that photo,” Nghệ declares in the film.¹
Carl Robinson, an AP photo editor in Vietnam that day, broke his silence after fifty years. After reviewing film submitted by both Ut and Nghệ, Robinson revealed the shocking orders he received from legendary AP editor Horst Faas.
“Horst Faas, who had been standing next to me, said, ‘Nick Ut, make it Nick Ut. Make it staff,'” Robinson recalls. “Those were his words exactly. And those have been with me the rest of my life.”²
Robinson admitted that for decades he felt guilty but stayed quiet to protect his career and family. He finally confronted Nghệ in the documentary: “I feel bad that we stole your name.”³
The fallout reached World Press Photo, the organization that honored Ut with its 1973 Photo of the Year award. Following the documentary’s Sundance premiere, the group launched its own investigation.
On May 16, World Press Photo suspended Ut’s authorship for the first time in its 70-year history. “The level of doubt is too significant to maintain the existing attribution,” executive director Joumana El Zein Khoury stated.⁴
Forensic analysis from French firm INDEX used 3D reconstruction, satellite imagery, and news footage to examine the scene. Their report concluded that Ut’s position made it “highly unlikely” he took the photograph.⁵
World Press Photo’s final statement leaned toward Nghệ, noting that photographers Nguyễn Thành Nghệ or Huỳnh Công Phúc were “better positioned to take the photograph” than Ut.⁷
Meanwhile, the Associated Press defended its long-held narrative. Its six-month investigation admitted it could not definitively verify Ut’s authorship due to time, missing witnesses, and technological limitations.⁸⁹
The AP did acknowledge a crucial detail: the photo was likely taken with a Pentax camera.¹⁰ Ut had always claimed he used Leica and Nikon cameras, only later mentioning he carried a Pentax. Nghệ, however, was known to use Pentax cameras.¹¹
Despite these inconsistencies, the AP refused to change credit. Its explanation: standards require “definitive evidence” to remove an attribution — evidence the AP admits it lacked.¹² In other words, the agency is protecting a half-century-old lie.
Ut’s attorney dismissed the documentary and forensic analysis, claiming: “No new documentary evidence — no negative, no contact sheet, no print, no contemporaneous note, and no photographic archive — has surfaced to support an alternative authorship.”¹³⁴
Ut himself refused to participate in the film and called the allegations “a slap in the face,” expressing disappointment over Netflix’s distribution of the documentary.¹⁶
This scandal highlights what conservatives have warned about for years: mainstream media lies to protect its own interests. Ut built an illustrious career — Pulitzer Prize, World Press Photo of the Year, George Polk Award, and National Medal of Arts — all from a photograph Nghệ sold for just $20 and never received credit for.
The AP had a chance to admit its decades-long mistake but chose to protect its image instead. The decision underscores the media’s willingness to bury the truth rather than confront its own failures.
Kim Phuc, now living in Canada, continues to support Ut, though her memory is based on family accounts rather than the actual moment.¹⁸
Ultimately, this episode exposes the media’s hypocrisy: preaching “truth” and “integrity” while covering up its own deception for over fifty years.
