Re: Digest for vietnam-old-hacks@googlegroups.com - 1 update in 1 topic
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Dawson
Mar 7, 2026, 7:36:49 PM (2 days ago) Mar 7
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In France and many... most other countries, defamation has nothing do with true-or-false, like slander and libel. Defamation requires a pretty low bar alleging personal harm. So if this case moves ahead, it's really a case that Netflix and any other defendants will have to prove they did not harm the reputation of Nick Ut. There's no meaningful discovery involved, either -- although that's up to the court. If discovery is ordered, the defendants have approximately about nothing to gain and even more to lose. Nick's lawyers probably have already put in their orders for '27 Mercedes.
I assume Netflix will try to buy its way out of this. What about the others? The Stringer has hardly been a huge and popular money-maker. The Frogs could easily order a massive payment. The way that the French go after U.S. entertainment and uuge IT companies this could be really a ruinous case.
73
On Sun, Mar 8, 2026 at 3:13 AM <vietnam-...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
Carl Robinson <robinso...@gmail.com>: Mar 07 12:53PM +1100
A quick update for those following *The **Stringer* dispute.
BBC Vietnamese has confirmed that the criminal defamation complaint filed
by Nick Ut in France is now officially on the docket. The *Tribunal
correctionnel de Tarascon* has set a *hearing date of 15 May 2026*.
The case is being brought via *citation directe* under the 1881 French
Press Law, targeting the documentary *The Stringer* and its claims about
the authorship of the Napalm Girl photograph. The defendants include VII
Foundation, Gary Knight, Netflix International BV, and Netflix France.
The BBC notes that it contacted Gary Knight for comment but received no
reply.
The article also summarises the AP investigations, the Index reconstruction
work in Paris, and the WPP decision last year to stop listing Nick Ut as
the author pending further clarity.
Link to the full BBC Vietnamese piece is here:
Nhiếp ảnh gia Nick Út khởi kiện tội phỉ báng liên quan đến bức ảnh Em bé
Napalm - BBC News Tiếng Việt
<https://www.bbc.com/vietnamese/articles/cdr2eevey56o>
And here is a translation of the full story:
Lawyers representing photographer Nick Ut have filed a criminal lawsuit
against several individuals and organizations, alleging defamation, in
connection with the wartime iconic *Napalm Baby*, to a court in France.
In a press release issued on March 3, Nick Ut's lawyers said that the
proceedings were carried out through a direct summons to the court.
The trial has been set for May 15, 2026 at the Tarascon Criminal Court,
France.
This legal move by Mr. Nick Ut was made after the documentary The *Stringer*,
produced by The VII Foundation and released in France by Netflix Services
France.
According to the lawyers, the lawsuit was "initiated on the basis of public
defamation of an individual," according to Article 29 of the French Law on
Freedom of the Press on July 29, 1881.
"In accordance with French press law, the *citation directe *[direct
summons to court] procedure allows an individual who claims to be a victim
of public defamation to take the case directly to the criminal court," the
press release said.
The lawsuit relates to an allegation raised in the movie *The Stringer*,
which claims that Mr. Nick Ut is not the author of the photo *Napalm
Baby* (also
known as *The Terror of War*).
The film also accused photographer Nick Ut of deliberately giving
inaccurate information about the authorship of the photo for decades, and
exaggerating his role in taking Kim Phuc to the emergency room after the
photo was taken, according to the statement.
p Đọc nhiều nhất and continue reading
<https://www.bbc.com/vietnamese/articles/cdr2eevey56o#end-of-recommendations>
[image: Ông Nguyễn Thành Nghệ, người khẳng định mình mới chính là người đã
chụp bức ảnh em bé Napalm, được cho là người đang cầm máy ảnh, phía bên
phải]
Nguồn hình ảnh,Getty Images
Chụp lại hình ảnh,Ông Nguyễn Thành Nghệ, người cầm máy ảnh phía bên phải,
khẳng định mình mới là người đã chụp bức ảnh em bé Napalm
The controversy over the real author of the Napalm Baby photo flared up
after the documentary The *Stringer *(Freelance Reporter) by
Vietnamese-American director Bao Nguyen premiered at the Sundance Film
Festival in Utah, USA, on January 25, 2025.
In early September 2025, the film's producer said Netflix had bought the
film and renamed *it The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo*.
The film, which premiered on Netflix on November 28, 2025, claims that the
person who took the photo was actually Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nghe, a freelance
reporter, and that he sold the reel to the Associated Press for a small sum
of money.
The person who gave the information, which led to the film's creation, was
Carl Robinson, a photo editor at the *Associated Press's* offices in Saigon
during the Vietnam War.
The film relies on interviews and information gathered during the two-year
investigation, and uses the results of the French organization Index to
conclude that Nick Ut was not close enough to the scene to capture this
historic moment.
However, the film is missing a number of key witnesses directly related to
the photo, including the head of the *AP* photo bureau in Saigon at the
time, Horst Faas, who shot the photo in the AP's darkroom, Yuichi "Jackson"
Ishizaki, *NBC News* bureau chief in Saigon in 1972. Mr. Arthur Lord - Mr.
Nguyen Thanh Nghe's boss.
These people have all passed away.
Besides, some questions asked by many critics after *The Stringer* was
released are why Mr. Nghe and Mr. Robinson kept this secret for more than
50 years even though they had many opportunities to tell it?
Regarding this issue, in an exclusive interview with *BBC News Vietnamese*
<https://www.bbc.com/vietnamese/articles/cwyjnxyx6g9o>in May 2025, Mr. Nghe
said:
"I've never claimed to be an author because I know there's no way to get
justice for myself. I don't have the evidence in my hands, then who will
believe me. The war ended, my family went to the United States, and for me
at that time, the safety of my family came first.
"Nothing is more important than the truth. We learn from our own mistakes
so that we don't make them again. I was silent, voiceless, insecure and
distressed, pent-up emotions.
"My story was forgotten, until Gary Knight found me."
Critics, meanwhile, pointed out that although Nghe said he had worked for *NBC
News*, he had, throughout his career, not released any other photos. Mr.
Nghe also failed to provide a copy of the Napalm Baby photo, explaining
that his ex-wife "tore it up".
The *Associated Press*, where Nick Ut once worked, has also twice
investigated the incident involving the *Napalm Baby*, before and after the
documentary The *Stringer *was shown.
The conclusion of the *AP* investigation said that Nick Ut was "likely" the
person who took the photo, but could not definitively prove it due to the
passage of time, the lack of key evidence — such as lost film negatives,
technological limitations and the death of several important figures
involved.
On the other hand, the *AP* also said: "The new findings revealed during
the investigation have raised unanswered questions and the AP is still open
to the possibility that Nick Ut did not take this photo.
According to *the AP*, there are two "unresolved" issues that lead to this
"open possibility", namely the camera Nick Ut used to take the photo and
his location at the scene.
As for the shooting location, both INDEX and *the AP* agreed that Ut was
standing further away from the scene at the time he first appeared in the
footage after the photo was taken.
Regarding the camera, the *AP* report said that Horst Faas, the head of the
AP photography department in Saigon in 1972 (deceased), and Nick Ut both
said that the Napalm Baby was taken with a Leica M2 camera.
But after AP used this camera and other Leica models for test shoots and
analysis, it was unlikely that the Napalm Baby was taken with any Leica,
but possibly with a Pentax.
However, the AP report said that Nick Ut had never mentioned Pentax in
previous interviews, although after hearing the AP say the photo was likely
taken with a Pentax camera, he accepted that possibility.
The AP then kept the author's name as Nick Ut.
However, World Press Photo (WPP), the organization that awards the world
press photo, has decided to stop crediting Nick Ut as the author of the
photo in May 2025, after commissioning an in-depth investigation that
lasted at least five months.
However, WPP also noted that they did not confirm for sure that Mr. Nghe
was the author. The conclusion made by this organization was: "If only Ut
and Nghe are considered, the existing visual and technical evidence is in
favor of Nghe."
On Sat, Mar 7, 2026 at 3:26 AM 'Catherine Karnow' via Vietnam Old Hacks <
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