DECEMBER 2015 75Nick Ut
H
uynh Công Út, known professionally as Nick Ut, is a New York based
photographer who works for the Associated Press (AP). Nick is best known
for his image “The Terror of War”, which also won him the Pulitzer Prize for
spot news photography in 1973. The image shows a naked 9-year-old girl, Phan Thi
Kim Phúc, running towards the photographer from a South Vietnamese napalm attack
on North Vietnamese invaders at the Trang Bàng village during the Vietnam War. The
image was published in the front page of many national and international magazines and
has created a huge impact among the readers. Nick took the little girl to the hospital
before delivering the film to the agency. The publication of the photo was heavily
debated as it had frontal nudity in it but was finally carried by AP as the news value of
the photograph overrode the company’s policies.
“An editor at the AP rejected the photo of Kim Phuc running down the road
without clothing because it showed frontal nudity. Pictures of nudes of all ages and
sexes, and especially frontal views were an absolute no-no at the Associated Press in
1972...Horst argued by telex with the New York head-office that an exception must
be made, with the compromise that no close-up of the girl Kim Phuc alone would be
transmitted. The New York photo editor, Hal Buell, agreed that the news value of the
photograph overrode any reservations about nudity.” — Nick Ut© Nick Ut