Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Nick Ut, center, flanked by Kim Phuc, left, holds the" Napalm Girl", his Pulitzer Prize winning photo as they wait to meet with Pope Francis during the weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, May 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)2025-05-06T18:34:08Z 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 52-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 were aware of and weve 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 APs 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. Stay up to date with similar stories by signing up to our WhatsApp channel. 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 didnt take the picture, the report said. The report said that believing Nguyens 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.An attorney for Ut did not immediately return an email Tuesday. Ut has strongly maintained that the photo is his. ___David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social DAVID BAUDER Bauder is the APs national media writer, covering the intersection of news, politics and entertainment. He is based in New York. twitter mailto