The Stringer<\/em> is a recently released show on Netflix.\u00a0 It tells the story behind a photo most folks my age remember well: The 1972 Vietnam War photograph of a little girl, Phan Th\u1ecb Kim Ph\u00fac, who was severely burned by a napalm\u00a0 bomb dropped by a South Vietnamese aircraft.<\/p>\n The story goes like this:\u00a0 Nguy\u1ec5n Th\u00e0nh Ngh\u1ec7 is the photographer who actually took the photo.\u00a0 Ngh\u1ec7 was a stringer (a freelance photographer).\u00a0 When he sold the photo to Carl Robinson at the Associated Press, the guy in charge (Horst Faas, who died in 2012) decided to attribute it to Nick Ut, an AP staff photographer.\u00a0 Robinson felt uncomfortable about doing so, but did as he was told.\u00a0\u00a0Ut was present at the scene when the photo was taken and willingly accepted credit for the photo, although he had to know he had not taken it.<\/p>\n The photo went on to win the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography, the World Press Photo award for Photo of the Year, and the George Polk News Photography award.\u00a0 It made Nick Ut’s career.<\/p>\n Carl Robinson went public with what he had been told to do 50 years later (which would be 2022).\u00a0 The Netflix show (The Stringer<\/em>) presents compelling arguments that Ngh\u1ec7 , not Ut, was the actual photographer.\u00a0 The Associated Press rejects these claims and still attributes the photo to Ut; World Press Photo accepted Ngh\u1ec7’s authorship and stripped Ut of its award.<\/p>\n Not included in the movie are the details of Phan Th\u1ecb Kim Ph\u00fac’s life after the 1972 napalm bombing.\u00a0 She endured multiple surgeries and great pain in the years after.\u00a0 Ms. Ph\u00fac grew up in what become communist Vietnam and subsequently moved to Cuba, where she became a pharmacist and married.\u00a0 While living in Cuba, she was on a flight to Moscow when she left the plane during a stop in Newfoundland and requested political asylum in Canada (which was granted).\u00a0 \u00a0Today, Ms. Ph\u00fac is a Canadian citizen.\u00a0 She leads several international foundations focused on helping children who are war victims.<\/p>\n The Stringer<\/em> is one of the better shows I’ve seen recently.\u00a0 If you are a Netflix subscriber, it’s one I recommend you not miss.<\/p>\n
\n