A Constant Visual Feast

It’s not every day that the authorship of a world famous photograph is rescinded by a major authority in photojournalism, but just a few weeks back, World Press Photo did exactly that on “The Terror of War.”

Close your eyes and forget that this post uses the picture as its header. When I say “The Terror of War,” answer instinctively, without thought; you may hear yourself say, “What’s that?” If I then say, “Napalm Girl,” you may immediately know what I’m talking about. Such is the power and endurance of “The Terror of War,” if not in title then in imagery. We – and the cutoff for “we” might be at the dividing line between Millennials and Gen Z – intrinsically recognize this picture. It’s the rare photograph with world-shifting impact. So when WPP suspended the presumed original photographer’s (Nick Ut) credit on the photo, the world likewise shifted again.

This action came about in large part due to documentary filmmaker Bao Nguyen’s new movie, The Stringer, which makes the case that Nguyễn Thành Nghệ took that photo, not Ut, and that Ut’s credit was the decision of Horst Faas, made in acknowledgment of racism (and therefore something of a racist decision unto itself). So of course, I rang up Bao* to talk about this momentous turn of events.

You can read the full feature over at JoySauce.

*Meaning, I emailed my PR contacts who have Bao’s number, and they rang him up for me.