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Connecting
May 19, 2025
Click here for the sound of the Teletype
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Colleagues,
Good Monday morning on this May 19, 2025,
The controversy over who took one of the most famous photos in history took a new twist Friday when World Press Photo said it has “suspended its attribution” to the AP’s Nick Ut for a picture of a girl running from a napalm attack in the Vietnam War that won its 1973 Photo of the Year award.
The photo organization said it did so because of doubts over who actually took the photo, for which Ut was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
After two investigations, the AP said it found no definitive evidence to warrant stripping Ut’s photo credit. The AP said it was possible Ut took the picture, but the passage of time made it impossible to fully prove, and could find no evidence to prove anyone else did.
Connecting brings you the AP story on the development, as well as comment from two well-respected photographers who covered the Vietnam War, comment first posted on Facebook which they approved for our use. They are David Hume Kennerly and David Burnett.
Wrote Kennerly, himself a Pulitzer winner, "Guilty until proven innocent. That’s the way the World Press Photo Foundation (WPP) rolls. By arrogantly 'suspending' Nick Ut’s credit from his 1973, 'The Terror of War,' also known as the 'Napalm Girl' photograph, they are trying to exile Nick to photographic purgatory."
We also bring you the latest Substack column by colleague Carl Robinson on the controversy. His belief is equally strong on the other side of the equation - that another young Vietnamese photographer, not Nick Ut, took the photo.
In the column, Robinson says" "Finally, I must ask my critics - or the sceptics who linger in the background. How could I have continued to keep silent about the truth of the matter? What do my former colleagues and Nick’s friends really think? Have any of them ever done anything wrong in their lives and felt bad about it? Was I supposed to just let this fiction stand? Let it fester, unchallenged, until my own death? No. But if you don’t want to believe me, that’s fine. Just hop on that upriver convoy - keep going."
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DICK BEENE DEATH – We’re sorry to bring news of the death of our colleague Dick Beene. He died at his home in Georgetown, Texas, on Saturday at the age of 82, according to his wife, Mercedes. Beene worked for the AP for 17 years, first in San Antonio as a newsman and then New York Photos where he was a photo editor. He left the AP in 1984 to become North American photo editor for Agence France-Presse in Washington for 19 years, retiring in 2003 and moving back to Texas. He was a U.S. Army veteran.
We will provide a fuller obituary when available, but meantime, if you have a favorite memory of working with Dick, please send it along. If you would like to send a note to his wife Mercedes, please drop me a note and I’ll share an address. (Thanks to Greg Smith for initial tip.)
Here’s to a great week – be safe, stay healthy, live each day to your fullest.
Paul
Photo group says it has ‘suspended attribution’ of historic Vietnam picture because of doubts
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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)
By DAVID BAUDER
An organization that honored The Associated Press’ Nick Ut with its “ photo of the year ” in 1973 for a picture of a girl running from a napalm attack in the Vietnam War says it has “suspended its attribution” to Ut because of doubts over who actually took it.
World Press Photo’s report Friday adds to the muddle over an issue that has split the photographic community since a movie earlier this year, “The Stringer,” questioned Ut’s authorship. The photo of a naked and terrified Kim Phuc became an iconic symbol of the war’s tragedy.
After two investigations, The Associated Press said it found no definitive evidence to warrant stripping Ut’s photo credit. The AP said it was possible Ut took the picture, but the passage of time made it impossible to fully prove, and could find no evidence to prove anyone else did.
World Press Photo said its probe found that two other photographers — Nguyen Thanh Nghe, the man mentioned in “The Stringer,” and Huynh Cong Phuc — “may have been better positioned” to take the shot.
“We conclude that the level of doubt is too significant to maintain the existing attribution,” said Joumana El Zein Khoury, executive director of World Press Photo. “At the same time, lacking conclusive evidence pointing definitively to another photographer, we cannot reassign authorship, either.”
World Press Photo, an organization whose awards are considered influential in photography, won’t attempt to recover the cash award given to Ut, a spokeswoman said.
Ut’s lawyer, James Hornstein, said his client hadn’t spoken to World Press Photo after some initial contact before “The Stringer” was released. “It seems they had already made up their mind to punish Nick Ut from the start,” he said.
Gary Knight, a producer of “The Stringer,” is a four-time judge of the World Press Photo awards and was once a consultant to the World Press Photo Foundation.
The AP said Friday that its standards “require proof and certainty to remove a credit and we have found that it is impossible to prove exactly what happened that day on the road or in the (AP) bureau over 50 years ago.”
“We understand World Press Photo has taken different action based on the same available information, and that is their prerogative,” the statement said. “There is no question over AP’s ownership of the photo.”
Meanwhile, the Pulitzer Prize that Ut won for the photo appears safe. The Pulitzers depend on news agencies who enter the awards to determine authorship, and administrator Marjorie Miller — a former AP senior editor — pointed to the AP’s study showing insufficient proof to withdraw credit. “The board does not anticipate future action at this time,” she said Friday.
Click here for link to this story. Shared by Doug Pizac, Myron Belkind.
Click here for World Press Photo announcement. Shared by Tom Graves.
'Guilty until proven innocent - That’s the way the World Press Photo Foundation rolls'
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Nick Ut and Kim Phuc at Eddie Adams Workshop in 2012 during a ceremony honoring photographers who were killed in action in Vietnam.
By David Hume Kennerly
“Following a nearly year-long investigation, the AP has concluded that there is not the definitive evidence required by AP’s standards to change the credit of the 53-year-old photograph (by Nick Ut).” . . . The Associated Press, May 6, 2025
“We have officially suspended the attribution of The Terror of War to Nick Út. This suspension will remain in place unless further evidence can clearly confirm or refute the original authorship.” . . . World Press Photo Foundation, May 16, 2025
Guilty until proven innocent. That’s the way the World Press Photo Foundation (WPP) rolls. By arrogantly “suspending” Nick Ut’s credit from his 1973, “The Terror of War,” also known as the “Napalm Girl” photograph, they are trying to exile Nick to photographic purgatory. The WPP can’t say for sure that he did or didn’t take it, but that’s not stopping them from playing Photo God by trying to destroy Nick’s good name with their twisted calculus. Even in football you need clear evidence to overrule a call on the field. That evidence isn’t there, particularly 50 years after the fact. And what right does the WPP have to “suspend” or take away the credit of a photo submitted to them for an award that is owned and published world-wide by the Associated Press? Zero, it’s a circus and they are the clowns.
Why did the World Press Foundation do this? One reason is their fealty to the film’s producing entity The VII Foundation and its ruler Gary Knight who produced and stars in “The Stringer.” The film is a fable based on the allegations of a disgruntled former AP photo editor in the Saigon bureau who had a big ax to grind and is jealous of Nick’s fame. The VII and World Press foundations are joined at the hip on this one. WPP Executive Director Joumana El Zein Khoury in announcing her punitive proclamation said, “. . . we conducted our assessment collegially, transparently . . . ” No they didn’t. Among things not mentioned is the fact that they have a very cozy relationship with Knight who has chaired some of their contests, and that they were shown the film ahead of others to lend it credibility and to promote the work.
In the WPP rush to judgement that started at the beginning of the year, Ms. Khoury sent Nick Ut a threatening email on January 14, 2025, in which she gave him a week to respond to allegations made by Knight that he didn’t take the “Napalm Girl” photo. She said, “We need to hear back from you before the 21st of January 2025. If we don't hear from you before then, we will then proceed with our decisions.” A week? Give me a break. We’re talking about something that happened in the fog of war over fifty years ago. A week!
Flash forward to the WPP announcement. They drank Knight's Kool-Aid right from the get-go. The WPP conducted an “investigation,” and came up with a perverted and bizarre decision, one that I suspect they had irrevocably made months earlier. It is also clear to me that Gary Knight and his collaborators had their narrative nailed down saying that Nick didn't take the photo, and they were sticking with it no matter what. They clearly didn't put anything into their "documentary" that didn't serve that goal. Dave Burnett is one of those inconvenient witnesses. Fox Butterfield, then of the New York Times, is another who was out there on the road and thought Nick did what he said he did. When Fox was initially contacted by Knight’s wife who is a producer, he gave her his version and never heard back. It contradicted their conclusion. Arthur Lord of NBC who was also there, and now departed, said Nick was next to his cameraman on the scene. Gary Knight and his co-conspirator’s modus operandi might as well be, "I hate when facts get in the way of a good story."
AP’s lengthy and professional inquiry into the authorship of the photo keeps it with Nick Ut. To further confuse the issue, WPP interjected the possibility of another photographer into the tale who was on the road that day. They said he was also in position to make the shot. Are there any others out there that they might want to add to the mix? Not me, I was in Saigon. Maybe it was someone else like “the stringer” who never sold or published anything in his life other than the famous picture as he claims to have taken. Add to that, “The AP spoke to eight eyewitnesses who were on the road when the photo was shot and received a statement from a ninth, the Napalm Girl herself, Kim Phuc. Those interviewed include Ut, who spoke to the investigators for five hours straight, and a relative of Kim Phuc’s who was also running from the attack. Other than Nghe, none questioned Ut’s authorship of the photo, and that guy only after decades had passed. Nothing to see here.
In her statement WPP's Ms Khoury said, “The documentary takes a stand that Nguyễn Thành Nghệ is the author. Associated Press has concluded that since there is no definitive proof that Nick Út did not take the image, the attribution of authorship to him should stand. At World Press Photo, however, we took a different path. Guided by our judging procedures we conclude that the level of doubt is too significant to maintain the existing attribution. At the same time, lacking conclusive evidence pointing definitively to another photographer, we cannot reassign authorship either.” What a shameful cop out.
Couple that with what the VII Gaslighting Foundation puts out there, “The film doesn’t lay blame on Mr. Ut; it examines the role of Western Media outlets and the unequal relationships to ‘local’ staff and stringers during that period.” That colonial allegation is totally disingenuous. In other words, he’s not to blame but has been flat-out lying for 50 years. Nick’s Saigon photo boss Horst Faas who allegedly gave credit to him for someone else’s picture, the darkroom guy who developed the film, and the AP Saigon bureau chief Richard Pyle aren’t around to defend him because they’re all, conveniently for Knight and unfortunately for Nick, dead. So let’s just blame it on the Western Media, that cabal of white guys who mistreated the ‘locals.” What BS. I was bureau chief for United Press International Pictures in Saigon for more than a year and at the time Nick took his famous photo. Our stringers came from everywhere, France, Japan, Germany, America, Australia, England, and of course Vietnam. They were all paid and treated the same. The producers are trying to slither away from the fact that this a direct hit on Nick Ut. Why not just admit it instead of trying to assume some racist explanation? Ironically, it’s a pair of white guys, Gary Knight and Carl Robinson, who are the ones slamming the youngest and only Vietnamese photographer to ever win the Pulitzer Prize.
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Nick Ut with Gary Knight (left) in Hanoi, March 21, 2023, and James Nachtwey. The three spent a week together teaching a workshop.
One of the sleaziest elements of this affair is the behavior of Mr. Truth Seeker himself, Gary Knight, the perpetrator and leading man in “The Stringer” saga. He along with Nick Ut and James Nachtwey participated in a photo workshop in Hanoi together in March of 2023 even as Knight was secretly plotting the documentary that could conceivably destroy Nick’s reputation. He said nothing to him about his subversion and later tried to get Nick to do an interview that he wisely declined. Can’t get more cynical or cold-blooded than that.
In keeping with the malevolent nature of the WPP decision to suspend Nick Ut’s credit from the photo he took, I am hereby suspending any mention of the two first place prizes I won in their contest in 1975 for my work in Cambodia. I will remove any indication of the awards from my bio and will only restore those citations when WPP admits they overreached and apologize to Nick for their malfeasance. Compared to what has happened to Nick Ut, it is a small gesture, but I stand with him now and forever.
To conclude, here are AP’s own words summing up Nick Ut’s photo credit:
“No one investigating the creation of a photograph more than a half century later can have any true certainty about what happened. To overrule a photo credit given at the time would require clear evidence the decision made by those at the scene was incorrect. Such certainty is simply not possible to have here.”
Amen.
WPP’s action brings whole new level of irrelevancy to once-powerful group
David Burnett - The announcement by World Press Photo (WPP-Holland) that they are “suspending” Nick Ut’s credit for the “Napalm Girl” photograph, the now famous picture of young Vietnamese children running for safety, presents what feels like a whole new level of irrelevancy to what was once a powerful, honest guardian and arbiter of photojournalism.
As discussions grew over the winter about a new documentary film which claimed to reveal who “really” took that now-famous photograph, there has been a terrible and unfortunate swirl of confidence in journalism itself. I would point out that while I declined to be interviewed in a film whose purpose was quite clear at the outset, neither have I been offered a chance to see and view the final version of the film on my own. The filmmakers, having carefully reached out to groups like World Press Photo during the early marketing phase of the film (which was eventually shown at the Sundance festival in Park City) doubts and discussions began to arise in some quarters about who took the picture.
Four months ago I was the recipient of a note from Joumana El Khoury, the current Executive Director of World Press Photo (whose Press Photo of the Year prize I was awarded in 1980, and on whose Jury I have served several times, twice as Jury Chair) , advising me on January 15 that they felt a need to find out more information about the "true authorship of the photograph," and that they needed to hear from me by January 20, “in order to take your statement into account of our decision.”
My response was to question what kind of journalistic principles would lead them to feel that a decision about a situation that was 53 years on, had to be finalized in five days. I was aware of their supposed determination to create their own research and come up with an answer. Yet since January I have not heard a single word from WPP, and I have come to understand that they have not reached out to Nick Ut or his representatives either in that time.
We two, Nick and I, are among the very few still living who were in the Press Corps that day in Trang Bang and while in the heat of the moment, no one spends conscious time monitoring what others do around them in a breaking news situation (no, we are, as photographers, trying to make pictures which tell that day’s story…) my memory is very clear - as it remains on many indelible aspects of my time in Vietnam, on that day of many crucial things. I have previously written on my experience that day, and have not wavered from my story in all these years.
When it became obvious that a stream of civilians was running away from the village center, towards the road on which the press corps was haphazardly assembled, Nick Ut, and Newsweek stringer Alex Shimkin, who were standing next to me, began racing down the road towards the oncoming children. In those next few moments as the children neared, Nick Ut made that picture. In my recollection, no one else was even remotely in a place to take that picture.
Later at the Associated Press office, I had my film processed, edited and printed by the AP darkroom crew, and sent pictures to the New York Times. In those minutes of waiting for the prints to be done, the AP darkroom chief emerged with the first ever 5x7’’ print of what would become known as “the horror of war.” There was never a moment when I doubted that Nick had made that picture, and while in one of my conversations with film producer Gary Knight, he said he had proof that Nick couldn’t have taken the picture, I responded by saying, based on my recall of how Nick had run down the road, ahead of everyone else, “that no one BUT Nick could have taken that picture.”
I still haven’t seen the film “The Stringer,” which strikes me as very uncollegial since Gary called me several years ago to talk about Trang Bang and asked to see my pictures of that very day, early on in his narrative - before it became clear to me that he was attempting to show that another photographer had made the picture. I would like to see their analysis, but some things are very clear to me, and one of those is that in a desire to become part of the cabal which is embracing this film, World Press Photo is stumbling over its own journalistic shoes as it struggles to remain relevant and of interest in the wake of their own egregious ethical and intellectual lapses.
Upstream Reflections: Watching the Napalm Girl Story Unfold.
Carl Robinson - As the Napalm Girl story fights its way upriver, against the current of time and perception, I watch and reflect from the banks of the Mekong River - now content to be a non-person, finally outside the narrative. More has happened since my last Substack responding to the to the AP's lengthy report downgrading its Nick Ut to a ‘possible’ photographer that day at Trang Bang nearly 53 years ago now. Now, the World Press Photo has taken away his by-line on its 1973 award, ‘suspending his authorship.’ And just like that, the story’s gone ‘round the world. Yay - because, of course, even the NYT is finally running with the controversy around ‘The Stringer’ documentary which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival back at the end of January. As they say in journalism, this story’s got wheels! And as headlines circulated over the weekend, I - who started all this - slipped out of the narrative. A relief, oddly enough.
Four days ago, I departed Ho Chi Minh City - always Saigon to me - for the western Mekong Delta. Here, the mighty river is still a single, wide, island-scattered branch. Fifty kilometres upstream from where it splits, strictly speaking, into the delta itself at Vinh Long and where we joyfully found the Napalm Girl’s real photographer, Nguyen Thanh Nghe. Just over two years ago, the day after our discovery, he suffered a stroke. A couple weeks later, I met him in a Can Tho hospital and said sorry - all on video.
I’d left Saigon on the four-hour road journey here feeling in the middle of circular firing squad. I’d done my critique of AP’s 97-page report - and still the details felt off. Hardly anyone mentioned it was an Asahi Pentax camera, not a Leica, that took the famous photo. A key detail, since Nghe is pictured holding one, perfectly positioned. (Has anyone called Nick’s big sponsor Leica yet?) And something legal, swirling out there somewhere - I don’t even want to know.
Read more here.
My Family in World War II
(A Connecting series relating to recent 80th anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe.)
David Egner - My late father’s World War II story is about his escape from the Holocaust — made possible by his long-dead father.
Dad’s father had been drafted into the Austro-Hungarian Army in World War I. Grandad saved a fellow soldier’s life during a battle. The saved soldier, who was from the same village as Grandad, told my grandfather he hated Jews, but owed his life to Grandad and would repay him some day. My grandfather wrote my grandmother a letter about the incident, which she saved and gave to my father years later. Shortly after he wrote the letter, Grandad was killed in combat. My father was 3 or 4 at the time.
Fast forward to 1939. My father, who briefly served in the Czechoslovak Army before the nation was occupied by Germany, was working as a barber in Czechoslovakia, masquerading as a Christian. A Nazi military officer entered the barbershop for a shave. After a few minutes he told my father he wanted to check him in the bathroom to see if he was circumcised (a sign that he was Jewish) because my father “looked Jewish.” Dad said the question was insulting, but said sure, except he had diarrhea and had to go to the one-toilet bathroom right away. He said the Nazi could check him out in a couple of minutes. Dad put a warm towel on the Nazi’s face, covering his eyes, and ran out of the barbershop as fast as he could.
Dad made it back to his home village, where the soldier whose life was saved by my grandfather was now mayor. Dad showed him the letter my grandfather had written. The mayor got my father false identity papers stating he was a Christian with a new name and gave him some money. Dad bribed border guards and made it to Romania, where he was able to get on a ship smuggling Jews into British-ruled Palestine (now Israel).
A British warship boarded my father’s ship before it could land and everyone on board was put into a prison camp, where they staged a mass escape by burning down the prison fence and barracks several months later. British soldiers didn’t stop them from fleeing.
My parents met and married and came to the U.S. in 1946. Both my grandmothers and many aunts, uncles and cousins were murdered in the Auschwitz death camp. My father might have suffered the same fate if his father had not saved a fellow soldier’s life in World War I.
Stories behind your AP wire initials
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Tom diLustro and his ragtag crew of merry misfits in front of the AP Photo trailer Mt. Van Hoevenberg covering the 1980 Olympics. From left: Tom diLustro; Robin (film runner), Guy (don't remember last name), New York darkroom technician; Peter Leabo, Dallas photographer; Tsutomu “Chigi” Chiba, Tokyo photographer; Tom Smart, Salt Lake City freelance photographer.
Peter Leabo - Mine were quite benign: “pbl” (Peter Brooks Leabo). And, I won’t ever worry about someone coming along with the same initials, and they certainly wouldn’t have to worry about being confused with me.
But this isn’t about me.
It’s about a legendary photo editor whom I had the privilege and honor to work with and learn from, Tom diLustro. When I joined the AP, my father, Skip: “cjl” (Clifford Jene Leabo), who worked with Tom on the NY photo desk in 1958-59, told me if I ever had the opportunity to work with Tom, seize the chance.
That chance came early in my AP career. Fewer than nine months after joining AP in Dallas, the Cowboys were going to Super Bowl XII in New Orleans, and I was assigned to cover the team during the week and, during the game, to cover the Dallas sideline when they were on offense and the Denver quarterback when Cowboys were on defense. The AP photo team consisted of eight photographers on the field and three shooting overhead (an unheard-of number at the time) supported by a small army of lab technicians and photo editors, led by Tom.
After the game I headed to the darkroom at the Superdome and, while still editing film, Tom took a minute to call me over and thank me for a few shots that had been selected for the report. Wow. Out of the hundreds of rolls of film, how did he even know who shot what?
A few minutes later, another photographer who was known to be quite vocal about photo editing (whose initials are not mentioned to protect the guilty), questioned Tom about why his image of a critical play wasn’t in the report. Tom went back through hundreds of rolls of film, found the frame in question, and said, “Ray, here, take a look. It’s just not quite sharp.” Such class.
My most memorable experience with Tom was covering the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. Being from Dallas (not well-known for covering winter sports) and my first Olympics, I was assigned to cover the bobsled, luge, cross country, and biathlon events at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. Tom was the photo editor in charge.
A few days into the games, Tom arrived at the AP Photos trailer barely able to walk. He had pulled his back out. We asked if we should call to see if they could send another photo editor, or if one of us should edit for the day. Tom would have nothing of it. He just asked us to clear one of the tables and help him up to lie down. He edited the day’s film while lying on his back using the trailer ceiling as his light table. He did that for a couple of days and he didn’t miss a frame.
After more than a week of 12+ hour days, Tom asked me if I’d like to take the night off to watch a hockey game. He suggested I take that “cute course attendant” I’d been chatting with on the bobsled course. Back at the main press center, Horst Faas, who oversaw the entire AP Photo operation at Lake Placid, told me to plan to cover the medal ceremonies on the lake that night. Tom interceded and told Horst he’d given me the night off to go to a hockey game with a “friend.” Tom gave me his hockey tickets and told me to get out of there quickly. That game became known as the “Miracle on Ice.”
Oh, Tom diLustro’s initials? Not plural. It was just one: “d”
pbl/dn
pbl/kx
pbl/fx
Stories of delivering newspapers
David Boe - I delivered the Southern Illinoisan, back then a weekday afternoon and Sunday paper, for three or four years, starting when I was 12 or 13. Some people might say that was the peak of my career.
In college, I delivered the Daily Illini for a semester. One day I got a complaint relayed from a subscriber about where I was leaving the paper. That subscriber turned out to be someone who had been a year ahead of me in high school. If my memory is correct, I put a brief note of apology with the next issue of the paper. People might recognize that person - Tom Isbell - from television shows in the ‘80s and ‘90s - he was in the “Columbo” episode “Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo,” as the young detective sergeant.
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Steve Herman - Your Connecting item on paper routes reminded me of my brief career hawking newspapers at the Indianapolis 500.
In 1959, a seventh-grade classmate and I sold papers at the track for The Indianapolis Star. We had to buy the papers ourselves ahead of time; I believe we paid 5 cents per paper and were to sell them for 7 cents each, although most people just gave us a dime to avoid the awkward 3 cents change.
We, and a flock of other youngsters, congregated in the Star's parking lot at 4 a.m. or so and rode en masse in the back of a big delivery truck to the Speedway. We worked in the infield of the mammoth track and did all of our selling in the morning, before the start of the Indy 500.
We figured we would come out ahead on the deal since we got into the track free, so when the race began we happily ditched whatever newspapers we hadn't sold and became mere spectators. I have no idea how many papers I sold/ditched.
After the race, we trekked along 16th Street back downtown and then took a bus home.
The next time I worked at the track was in 1968 when, as a college senior, I took photos for the Star. Two years after that, I was back working my first race for AP.
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Larry Paladino - As for paper route stories, yep, I had a route when I was 11-12, delivering the Detroit Times. It was the smallest circulation paper among the three Detroit dailies and went out of business decades ago. I was fortunate enough to have a route that included my own street, and the paper station was two blocks away at the busy intersection of Grand River, Fenkell and Southfield -- which was a boulevard soon to be a freeway. We'd play football in the median while waiting for papers, or we'd play foosball in the garage that was the station.
My route covered four miles but I only had 47 customers, sometimes none on a whole block. I had a customer across the street from the station and I flung a paper to the porch and it broke the door glass. They never said anything. And one of my customers had a sloping roof and sometimes my tosses would end up on the roof. In the winter there were half a dozen frozen folded up papers on that roof.
Barney Tilchen, our manager, would drive some of us out to various neighborhoods to sign up new customers -- even though they were rival district territories. He took the best salesboys out to dinner once at a fine restaurant. Plus I remember winning prizes for new customers, including a croquet set and a bike police siren. No matter the weather, I was out there and only about three times in two years, mostly due to snow, my father drove me on my route.
One of our newsboys' nickname was "Soupy" because he looked like Soupy Sales and did a perfect Soupy Shuffle. His name was Jerry Fitzsimmons and he had the most customers of anyone, about 150. I think my most cherished memories come from the years on that route.
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Tam Mitman – from a few years ago - The carriers’ role was brought to mind by a full-page ad I unearthed from our attic archives the other day.
“There are nearly 2,000 boys and girls, men and women, who deliver the Portland Press Herald, Evening Express and Maine Sunday Telegram,” the ad says.
Designed to commemorate International Carrier Day, the ad includes a quote from each newsroom executive. My husband’s (the late Jon Kellogg, a former AP bureau chief) says this:
“I got my paper route when I was 11 and kept it for three years. It earned me my first bank account, paid for my first new bicycle and paid for the first real Christmas present I gave to my mother.
“Paper routes teach discipline, responsibility, teamwork and entrepreneurship. It’s a great way to instill important values in young people and let them gather the rewards of their own labor at the same time.” —Jon Kellogg, Managing Editor—Reporting
| | Connecting wishes Happy Birthday | | |
Stories of interest
Journalism writes winning story in Los Alamitos Derby, beats 3 entries from Bob Baffert (AP)
LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. (AP) — Journalism won the $200,000 Los Alamitos Futurity by 3 1/2 lengths on Saturday, defeating three entries from Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who was trying to win the Grade 2 race for the eighth time at the Orange County track.
Ridden by Umberto Rispoli, Journalism ran 1 1/16 miles in 1 minute, 43.04 seconds. The 2-year-old colt had been supplemented to the race by trainer Michael McCarthy for $7,500 three days earlier.
Sent off as the 5-2 second choice, Journalism paid $7.60 to win. There was no place or show wagering because of the five-horse field. The victory increased his career earnings to $158,880.
“We gave this horse every opportunity not to run today, but he had two wonderful works and he was very cool and composed in the paddock,” McCarthy said. “He’s picking things up fast.”
Journalism overtook pacesetter Getaway Car in the stretch.
Read more here.
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Bukele’s crackdown pushes top Salvadoran journalists to flee (Washington Post)
By Samantha Schmidt
SAN SALVADOR — Their news site had just exposed details of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s alleged deals with the country’s gangs. Now the three journalists were faced with a choice they had long dreaded.
El Faro — Spanish for lighthouse — is the premier independent investigative news outlet in El Salvador. The staff had received word that Bukele’s increasingly authoritarian government might be preparing warrants to arrest seven of its journalists.
Four of the seven had already left El Salvador. Carlos Barrera, Efren Lemus and Victor Peña remained. To stay longer would mean risking arrest. To flee would mean risking detention at the border.
One morning this month, they tried the latter. The trio drove to the border with Guatemala, showed their documents to immigration authorities and were allowed to cross.
“We don’t know where we stand yet,” Lemus, 45, told The Washington Post hours later. They weren’t sure when or even whether they’d be able to return safely to report from their country.
Read more here. Shared by Richard Chady.
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College newspapers under pressure as immigration fears silence sources (Washington Post)
By Angie Orellana Hernandez
International students have asked to remain anonymous in college newspaper articles examining White House policies, to nix their names from old stories and — if they’re reporters or editors themselves — to step away from covering protests of Israel’s war in Gaza or President Donald Trump altogether, according to student journalists across the country.
The pattern reflects an atmosphere of fear on campuses as the Trump administration has promised to identify international students and deport them over anti-Israel protests that the White House alleges support Hamas’s goals, college newspaper editors at Stanford University, Arizona State and Northeastern University told The Washington Post.
Requests to take down articles and anonymize sources became more prevalent after the March arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student who participated in pro-Palestinian protests, according to student media advocacy groups. Students were further rattled when Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk was detained and accused of supporting terrorists because of a March 2024 op-ed she co-wrote criticizing the university’s response to the pro-Palestinian movement.
Read more here. Shared by Dennis Conrad.
| | Today in History - May 19, 2025 | | |
Today is Monday, May 19, the 139th day of 2025. There are 226 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On May 19, 1920, ten people were killed in a gun battle between coal miners, who were led by a local police chief, and a group of private security guards hired to evict them for joining a union in Matewan, West Virginia.
Also on this date:
In 1536, Anne Boleyn, the second wife of England’s King Henry VIII, was beheaded at the Tower of London after being convicted of adultery.
In 1883, William Cody held the first of his “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” shows in Omaha, Nebraska.
In 1921, President Warren G. Harding signed the Emergency Quota Act, which established national quotas for immigrants.
In 1943, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met with President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House, where the two leaders agreed on May 1, 1944, as the date for the D-Day invasion of France (expansion plans for the invasion caused the date of the landing to be delayed by a month).
In 1962, film star Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday to You” to President John F. Kennedy during a Democratic fundraiser at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
In 2018, Britain’s Prince Harry wed American actor Meghan Markle in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
Today’s Birthdays: TV personality David Hartman is 90. Musician-composer Pete Townshend (The Who) is 80. Singer-actor Grace Jones is 77. Former racing driver Dario Franchitti is 52. Basketball Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett is 49. Country musician-producer Shooter Jennings is 46. Comedian-actor Michael Che is 42. Singer Sam Smith is 33. Media personality-singer JoJo Siwa is 22.
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AP classes, by the year...
(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a listing of Connecting colleagues who have shared the year and the bureau where they started with the AP. If you would like to share your own information, I will include it in later postings. Current AP staffers are also welcome to share their information. We include deceased staffers when their information is shared; their names are italicized.)
1951 - Norm Abelson (Boston)
1953 – Charles Monzella (Huntington, WVa)
1955 – Henry Bradsher (Atlanta), Paul Harrington (Boston), Joe McGowan (Cheyenne)
1957 - Louis Uchitelle (Philadelphia)
1958 – Roy Bolch (Kansas City), Robert Dubill (Buffalo)
1959 – Charlie Bruce (Montgomery)
1960 – Claude Erbsen (New York), Bill Lenz (Detroit), Carl Leubsdorf (New Orleans), Harry Moskos (Albuquerque)
1961 – Peter Arnett (Jakarta, Indonesia), Strat Douthat (Charleston. WVa), Warren Lerude (San Diego), Ed Staats (Austin)
1962 – Paul Albright (Cheyenne), Malcolm Barr Sr. (Honolulu), Myron Belkind (New York), Dave Mazzarella (Newark), Peggy Simpson (Dallas), Kelly Smith Tunney (Miami)
1963 – Hal Bock (New York), Jeff Williams (Portland OR)
1964 – Rachel Ambrose (Indianapolis), Larry Hamlin (Oklahoma City), John Lengel (Los Angeles), Ron Mulnix (Denver), Lyle Price (San Francisco), Lew Simons (New York), Arlene Sposato (New York), Karol Stonger (Indianapolis), Hilmi Toros (New York)
1965 – Bob Dobkin (Pittsburgh), Harry Dunphy (Denver), John Gibbons (New York), Bob Greene (Kansas City), Jim Luther (Nashville), Larry Margasak (Harrisburg), Rich Oppel (Tallahassee), Jim Rubin (Trenton). Lynn Sherr (New York), Mark Thayer (San Francisco)
1966 – Shirley Christian (Kansas City), Mike Doan (Portland, OR), Edie Lederer (New York), Nancy Shipley (Nashville), Mike Short (Los Angeles), Marty Thompson (Seattle), Nick Ut (Saigon), Kent Zimmerman (Chicago)
1967 – Dan Berger (Los Angeles), Adolphe Bernotas (Concord), Lou Boccardi (New York), Linda Deutsch (Los Angeles), Don Harrison (Los Angeles), Frank Hawkins (New York), Doug Kienitz (Cheyenne), David Liu (New York), Bruce Lowitt (Los Angeles), Chuck McFadden (Los Angeles), Martha Malan (Minneapolis), Bill Morrissey (Buffalo), Larry Paladino (Detroit), Michael Putzel (Raleigh), Bruce Richardson (Chicago), Richard Shafer (Baltimore), Victor Simpson (Newark), Michael Sniffen (Newark), Kernan Turner (Portland, Ore)
1968 – Lee Balgemann (Chicago), John Eagan (San Francisco), Earleen Fisher (Indianapolis), Joe Galu (Albany/Troy), Peter Gehrig (Frankfurt), Charles Hanley (Albany), Jerry Harkavy (Portland, Maine), Herb Hemming (New York), Brian King (Albany), Samuel Koo (New York), Karren Mills (Minneapolis), Michael Rubin (Los Angeles), Rick Spratling (Salt Lake City), Barry Sweet (Seattle)
1969 - Ann Blackman (New York), Ford Burkhart (Philadelphia), Harry Cabluck (Pittsburgh), Dick Carelli (Charleston, WVa), Dennis Coston (Richmond), Ron Frehm (New York), Mary V. Gordon (Newark), Daniel Q. Haney (Portland, Maine), Mike Harris (Chicago), Brad Martin (Kansas City), David Minthorn (Frankfurt), Cynthia Rawitch (Los Angeles), Bob Reid (Charlotte), Mike Reilly (New York), Doug Tucker (Tulsa), Bill Wertz (Minneapolis), Jim Willse (New York), Bill Winter (Helena)
1970 – Richard Boudreaux (New York), David Briscoe (Manila), Sibby Christensen (New York), Richard Drew (San Francisco), Bob Egelko (Los Angeles), James Gerstenzang (San Francisco), Steve (Indy) Herman (Indianapolis), Tim Litsch (New York), Lee Margulies (Los Angeles), Arthur Max (Tel Aviv), Chris Pederson (Salt Lake City), Brendan Riley (San Francisco), Chuck Robinson (Indianapolis), Larry Thorson (Philadelphia)
1971 – Harry Atkins (Detroit), Jim Bagby (Kansas City), Larry Blasko (Chicago), Jim Carlson (Milwaukee), Jim Carrier (New Haven), Chris Connell (Newark), Bill Gillen (New York), Bill Hendrick (Birmingham), John Lumpkin (Dallas), Kendal Weaver (Montgomery)
1972 – Hank Ackerman (New York), Rod Davis (Dallas), Bob Fick (St. Louis), Joe Frazier (Portland, Ore.), Terry Ganey (St. Louis), Mike Graczyk (Detroit), Denis Gray (Albany), Lindel Hutson (Little Rock), Linda Kramer Jenning (San Francisco), Brent Kallestad (Sioux Falls), Tom Kent (Hartford), Nolan Kienitz (Dallas), Kent Kilpatrick (Detroit), Andy Lippman (Phoenix), Mike Millican (Hartford), Bruce Nathan (New York), Ginny Pitt Sherlock (Boston), Lew Wheaton (Richmond)
1973 - Jerry Cipriano (New York), Susan Clark (New York), Norm Clarke (Cincinnati), Marty Crutsinger (Miami), Steve Fox (Los Angeles), Joe Galianese (East Brunswick), Merrill Hartson (Richmond), Mike Hendricks (Albany), Tom Journey (Tucson), Steve Loeper (Los Angeles), Jesus Medina (New York), Ellen Miller (Helena), Tom Slaughter (Sioux Falls), Jim Spehar (Denver), Paul Stevens (Albany), Jeffrey Ulbrich (Cheyenne), Owen Ullmann (Detroit), Suzanne Vlamis (New York), John Willis (Omaha), Evans Witt (San Francisco)
1974 – Norman Black (Baltimore), Julie Dunlap (Philadelphia), David Espo (Cheyenne), Dan George (Topeka), Robert Glass (Philadelphia), Steve Graham (Helena), Tim Harper (Milwaukee), Elaine Hooker (Hartford), Sue Price Johnson (Charlotte), Fong Lien (Los Angeles), Dave Lubeski (Washington), Janet McConnaughey (Washington), Lee Mitgang (New York), Barry Shlachter (Tokyo), Bud Weydert (Toledo), Marc Wilson (Little Rock)
1975 – Peter Eisner (Columbus), Charles Hill (Charlotte), Jim Limbach (Washington), Bill McCloskey (Washington), David Powell (New York), Eileen Alt Powell (Milwaukee)
1976 – Brad Cain (Chicago), Judith Capar (Philadelphia), Dick Chady (Albany), David Crary (Jackson), Steve Crowley (Washington), Diane Duston (Columbus), David Egner (Oklahoma City), Carole Feldman (Newark), Steve Hindy (Newark), Marc Humbert (Albany), Steven Hurst (Columbus), Richard Lowe (Nashville), Mike Mcphee (Boston), John Nolan (Nashville), Guy Palmiotto (New York), Charlotte Porter (Minneapolis), Chuck Wolfe (Charlotte)
1977 – Bryan Brumley (Washington), Robert Burns (Jefferson City), Charles Campbell (Nashville), Carolyn Carlson (Atlanta), Dave Carpenter (Philadelphia), Solange De Santis (New York), Jim Drinkard (Jefferson City), Ken Herman (Dallas), Mike Holmes (Des Moines), Doug Jeffries (New York), Brad Kalbfeld (New York), Larry Kilman (Atlanta), Scott Kraft (Jefferson City), John Kreiser (New York), Peter Leabo (Dallas), Kevin LeBoeuf (Los Angeles), Ellen Nimmons (Minneapolis), Joyce Rosenberg (New York), Dan Sewell (Buffalo), Estes Thompson (Richmond), David Tirrell-Wysocki (Concord)
1978 – Jane Anderson (Providence), Vinnie D'Alessandro (Hartford), Tom Eblen (Louisville), Ruth Gersh (Richmond), Monte Hayes (Caracas), Doug Pizac (Los Angeles), Charles Richards (Dallas), Reed Saxon (Los Angeles), Steve Wilson (Boston)
1979 – Jim Abrams (Tokyo), Peter Banda (Albuquerque), Brian Bland (Los Angeles), Scotty Comegys (Chicago), John Daniszewski (Philadelphia), Frances D’Emilio (San Francisco), Pat Fergus (Albany), Brian Friedman (Des Moines), Sally Hale (Dallas), Susana Hayward (New York), Jill Lawrence (Harrisburg), Warren Levinson (New York), Joe Madison (New York), Barry Massey (Kansas City), Phillip Rawls (Nashville), John Rice (Carson City), Kurt Rossi (New York), Linda Sargent (Little Rock), Joel Stashenko (Albany), Rebecca Trounson (Denver), Robert Wielaard (Brussels)
1980 – Alan Adler (Cleveland), Christopher Bacey (New York), Diane M. Balk (Indianapolis), Jeff Barnard (Providence), Mark Duncan (Cleveland), Bill Kaczor (Tallahassee), Mitchell Landsberg (Reno), Mike Mazzo (East Brunswick), Kevin Noblet (New Orleans), Lee Perryman (Tampa), Jim Rowley (Baltimore), David Speer (Jackson), Hal Spencer (Providence), Jo Steck (Los Angeles), Carol J. Williams (Seattle)
1981 – Paul Davenport (Phoenix), Dan Day (Milwaukee), John Flesher (Raleigh), Debra Hale-Shelton (Little Rock), Len Iwanski (Bismarck), Ed McCullough (Albany), Drusilla Menaker (Philadelphia), Kim Mills (New York), Mark Mittelstadt (Des Moines), Susan Okula (Hartford), Roland Rochet (New York), Larry Ryckman (Carson City NV), Lee Siegel (Seattle), Marty Steinberg (Baltimore), Bill Vogrin (Kansas City)
1982 – Dorothy Abernathy (Little Rock), Al Behrman (Cincinnati), Tom Cohen (Jefferson City), John Epperson (Chicago), Ric Feld (Atlanta), Kiki Lascaris Georgio (New York), Nick Geranios (Helena), Mike Gracia (Washington), Howard Gros (New Orleans), Mark Humphrey (Nashville), Dan Juric (East Brunswick), Robert Kimball (New York), Rob Kozloff (Detroit), Bill Menezes (Kansas City), David Ochs (New York), Eric Risberg (San Francisco), Cecilia White (Los Angeles)
1983 – Elise Amendola (Boston), Edward L. Birk (Boston), Donna Cassata (Albany), Scott Charton (Little Rock), Sue Cross (Columbus), Mark Elias (Chicago), Mary Esch (Albany), Doug Fisher (Columbus), Alan Fram (Newark), David Ginsburg (Washington), Lisa Hamm-Greenawalt, Diana Heidgerd (Miami), Kevin McGill (New Orleans), Sheila Norman-Culp (New York), Carol Esler Ochs (New York), Jim Reindl (Detroit), Amy Sancetta (Philadelphia), Angie Lamoli Silvestry (New Orleans), Rande Simpson (New York), Dave Skidmore (Milwaukee), Barbara Worth (New York)
1984 – Laurie Asseo (Phoenix), David Beard (Chicago), Owen Canfield (Oklahoma City), Raf Casert (Brussels), Wayne Chin (Washington), Jack Elliott (Oklahoma City), Jim Heintz (Columbus), Candice Hughes (Dallas), Danny Johnston (Little Rock), Kelly P. Kissel (New Orleans), Hank Kurz (New York), Joe Macenka (Richmond), Paul Newberry (Atlanta), Eva Parziale (San Francisco), Walt Rastetter (New York), Malcolm Ritter (New York), Keith Robinson (Columbus), Cliff Schiappa (Kansas City), David Sedeño (Dallas), Andrew Selsky (Cheyenne), Pedro Sotomayor (Los Angeles), Lindsey Tanner (Chicago), Patty Woodrow (Washington)
1985 – Dennis Conrad (Cleveland), George Garties (Los Angeles), Beth Grace (Columbus), Betty Kumpf Pizac (Los Angeles)
1986 – Joni Baluh Beall (Richmond), David Beard (Jackson), Tom Coyne (Columbia, SC), Dave DeGrace (Milwaukee), Alan Flippen (Louisville), Paul Geitner (Montgomery), Jim Gerberich (San Francisco), Howard Goldberg (New York), Mark Hamrick (Dallas), Sandy Kozel (Washington), Arlene Levinson (Boston), Robert Meyers (London), David Morris (Harrisburg), Susan Ragan (New York), Lori Dodge Rose (Jefferson City), Bob Seavey (Lima), Barbara Woike (New York)
1987 – Donna Abu-Nasr (Beirut), Jim Anderson (Mexico City), Dave Bauder (Albany), Bob Bellafiore (Albany), Chuck Burton (Charlotte), Ted Duncombe (Philadelphia), Beth Harris (Indianapolis), Lynne Harris (New York), Steven L. Herman (Charleston, WVa), Elaine Kurtenbach (Tokyo), Rosemarie Mileto (New York), John Rogers (Los Angeles), Julia Rubin (Denver)
1988 – Chris Carola (Albany), Peg Coughlin (Pierre), Frank Eltman (New York), Kathy Gannon (Islamabad), Steve Hart (Washington), Melissa Jordan (Sioux Falls), Margaret Lillard (Nashville), Bill Pilc (New York), Philip Rosenbaum (New York), Kelley Shannon (Dallas), Darlene Superville (Newark)
1989 – Charlie Arbogast (Trenton), Susan Boyle (New York), John Braunreiter (Milwaukee), Ted Bridis (Oklahoma City), Paul Randall Dickerson (Nashville), Katie Fairbank (Indianapolis), Ron Fournier (Little Rock), Ann Gibson (Richmond), Josh Lemieux (Kansas City), Teresa Walker (Nashville)
1990 – David Boe (Chicago), Frank Fisher (Jackson), Ken Giglio (Washington), Kathryn Loomans (Washington), Dan Perry (Bucharest), Steve Sakson (Baltimore), Sean Thompson (New York)
1991 – Amanda Kell (Richmond), Suzanne Mast Lee (Washingon), Santiago Lyon (Cairo), Lisa Pane (Hartford), Wayne Partlow (Washington), Ricardo Reif (Caracas), Bill Sikes (Buffalo)
1992 – Emery P. Dalesio (Trenton), Jennifer Garske (Washington), Kerry Huggard (New York), Wilfredo Lee (Washington)
1993 – Connie Farrow (St. Louis), Shawn Pogatchnik (London), Jim Salter (St. Louis), Tim Sullivan (New York), Adam Yeomans (Tallahassee)
1994 - Glen Johnson (Boston), Ralph Siegel (Trenton)
1995 – Elaine Thompson (Houston), Donna Tommelleo (Hartford)
1996 – Patricia N. Casillo (New York), Burt Herman (Sacramento), John Khin (New York)
1997 – J. David Ake (Chicago), Peter Banda (Albuquerque), Martha Bellisle (Carson City), Kia Breaux (Kansas City), Chuck Burton (Charlotte), Pamela Collins (Dallas), Aaron Jackson (New York), Rachel La Corte (Miami), Madhu Krishnappa Maron (New York), Jim Suhr (Detroit), Jennifer Yates (Baltimore)
1998 – Alan Clendenning (New Orleans), Guthrie Collin (Albany), David Koenig (Dallas), Mitch Stacy (London), Richard Turkheimer (New Orleans)
1999 – Melinda Deslatte (Raleigh), Stacey Plaisance (New Orleans), Laura Rauch (Las Vegas), Terry Spencer (Miami)
2000 – Carrie Antlfinger (Milwaukee), Betsy Blaney (Dallas), Gary Gentile (Los Angeles), Ken Miller (Oklahoma City), Rhonda Shafner (New York), Tom Tait (Las Vegas)
2001 - Mike Weissenstein (New York)
2002 - Michael Casey (Jakarta)
2003 - Valerie Komor (New York)
2004 - Jim Baltzelle (Dallas)
2005 – Ric Brack (Chicago), Richard Jacobsen (Mexico City), Frank Jordans (London)
2006 – Jon Gambrell (Little Rock)
2008 - Steve Braun (Washington)
2011 - Joseph B. Frederick (New York)
2013 - Alex Sanz (Atlanta)
2014 - Peter Costanzo (New York)
2024 - Gabriela Aoun (San Diego)
| | Got a photo or story to share? | | |
Connecting is a daily newsletter published Monday through Friday that reaches 2,000 retired and former Associated Press employees, present-day employees, and news industry and journalism school colleagues. It began in 2013. Past issues can be found by clicking Connecting Archive in the masthead. Its author, Paul Stevens, retired from the AP in 2009 after a 36-year career as a newsman in Albany and St. Louis, correspondent in Wichita, chief of bureau in Albuquerque, Indianapolis and Kansas City, and Central Region vice president based in Kansas City.
Got a story to share? A favorite memory of your AP days? Don't keep them to yourself. Share with your colleagues by sending to Ye Olde Connecting Editor. And don't forget to include photos!
Here are some suggestions:
- Connecting "selfies" - a word and photo self-profile of you and your career, and what you are doing today. Both for new members and those who have been with us a while.
- Second chapters - You finished a great career. Now tell us about your second (and third and fourth?) chapters of life.
- Spousal support - How your spouse helped in supporting your work during your AP career.
- My most unusual story - tell us about an unusual, off the wall story that you covered.
- "A silly mistake that you make"- a chance to 'fess up with a memorable mistake in your journalistic career.
- Multigenerational AP families - profiles of families whose service spanned two or more generations.
- Volunteering - benefit your colleagues by sharing volunteer stories - with ideas on such work they can do themselves.
- First job - How did you get your first job in journalism?
- Most unusual place a story assignment took you.
Paul Stevens
Editor, Connecting newsletter
paulst...@gmail.com
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