Associated Press devotes a detailed report to Index’s analysis

A few months after the premiere of the documentary “The Stringer” at the Sundance Film Festival – for which Index produced a 3D reconstruction of the scene – the Associated Press published its own counter-investigation. In a roughly 100-page report posted online on 6 May 2025, “Investigating Claims Around ‘The Terror of War’ Photograph”, the agency re-examines in detail the attribution of the famous photograph.

While acknowledging several inconsistencies in the account attributing the picture to Nick Ut, its long-time photographer, AP chose to stand by that attribution, giving him the benefit of the doubt. The report devotes several passages to Index’s work: it describes our analysis as “presented with precision and confidence”, while seeking to challenge its conclusions.

Above all, AP admits it cannot refute Index’s calculations themselves: the agency merely objects that its own research drew on a larger body of images. While it raises a few methodological reservations, it does not challenge the analysis’s central conclusion.

Index stands by the conclusion of its investigation, as presented in the film: it is highly unlikely that Nick Ut took the photograph. On 16 May 2025, ten days after the publication of AP’s report, World Press Photo in turn suspended the attribution of the picture to Nick Ut, on the basis of an independent expert review that critically examined Index’s analysis and reached the same conclusions.