"The Stringer" with Bao Nguyen episode artwork

EPISODE · Nov 30, 2025 · 25 MIN

"The Stringer" with Bao Nguyen

from Top Docs: Award-Winning Documentary Filmmakers · host michaellouismerrill

Who really took the photo widely known as “Napalm Girl”?  And does it really matter over a half-century later?   In his new Netflix documentary “The Stringer”, Bao Nguyen (“The Greatest Night in Pop”) follows a journalistic team lead by Anglo-American Gary Knight as they seek to show that the real photographer on that day in 1972 in Trang Bang was not the renowned and fêted Pulitzer Prize-winning Nick Ut, of the Saigon AP Bureau, but a “stringer”, Nguyen Thanh Nghe, paid $20 flat and subsequently denied all credit.  And Nguyen argues as well that it does matter not only to Nghe and his family, but also to: the Vietnamese people; the Vietnamese diaspora (who had long lionized Ut); to an America that has still not fully dealt with the war; and to the very nature of truth in an era when technology can both clarify and complicate provenance.   You can stream “The Stringer” on Netflix.   Follow: @baomnguyen on Instagram and X @topdocspod on Instagram and X    The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Nov 30, 2025

Embed this episode

NOW PLAYING

"The Stringer" with Bao Nguyen

0:00 25:46

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

No similar episodes found.

No similar podcasts found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of Top Docs: Award-Winning Documentary Filmmakers?

This episode is 25 minutes long.

When was this Top Docs: Award-Winning Documentary Filmmakers episode published?

This episode was published on November 30, 2025.

Can I download this Top Docs: Award-Winning Documentary Filmmakers episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.
URL copied to clipboard!