The Stringer. A Documentary Film

Over the past two years, I have been working with a team of journalists at the VII Foundation and in Vietnam on an investigation into the veracity of the authorship of one of the most iconic images of the 20th century, of any century. That investigation was documented by the Vietnamese American film director Bao Nguyen.

What we uncovered speaks to the heart of what is most important in our profession. The film grapples with questions of authorship, racial injustice, and journalistic ethics while shining a light on the fundamental yet often unrecognized contributions of local freelancers who provide the information we need to understand how events worldwide impact us all.

This is a story that many people in our profession did not want told, and some of them continue to go to great lengths to make sure it isn’t told. But regardless of the passage of time and however inconvenient it might be, nothing should stall the pursuit of truth in journalism because we are obliged to hold ourselves to account if we seek to hold everyone else to account. There is an old adage that journalism is ‘the first draft of history’, sometimes it takes a second draft to set the record straight.

As one of the legendary Vietnamese journalists we spoke to told us: “There's nothing more important than the truth. When the truth is disregarded, that's when society becomes corrupted. (The truth) cannot be twisted, or torn apart, because if so, it’s no longer the truth and we will have lost our moral compass.”

We are honoured that ‘The Stringer’ will premiere this month at the Sundance Film Festival. Please watch this space for further information on our investigation and the film itself.