The Associated Press on Tuesday issued this statement about its comprehensive report examining authorship of its iconic “The Terror of War” photograph from the Vietnam War:
The Associated Press has spent almost a year examining all available evidence related to its iconic “The Terror of War” photo, in pursuit of an accurate historical record.
The report published today shows how seriously AP has taken questions about the authorship of its image. The AP has concluded that the credit will remain with Nick Ut.
AP standards require that a photo credit be removed if definitive evidence shows the person claiming to have taken a photo did not. In the absence of such proof, the photo credit remains.
AP’s extensive visual analysis, interviews with witnesses and examination of all available photos taken on June 8, 1972, show it is possible Ut took this picture. None of this material proves anyone else did.
Our investigation has raised significant questions, which are outlined in the report, that we may never be able to answer. Fifty years have passed, many of the people involved are dead and technology has limitations.
In keeping with AP’s news values, it is paramount we take a critical inward look any time our journalism is called into question and that is precisely what the AP has done here.
AP’s report is available here: https://www.ap.org/about/ap-report-terror-of-war/
