Some Photos Lie

The photo is of an execution of a viet cong captain named Nguyen Van Lem. He was kept as a prisoner of war by police chief Nguyen Ngoc Loan. Van Lem was charged with the deaths of many south Vietnamese police and their families. The attack on civilians angered police chief Loan who took the opportunity that he had with the reports present to make an example of Van Lem by executing him in public. The picture was takes as the bullet was shot and was coming out of the head of Van Lem. The picture ended up making many of the people who didn't know the background of the war think that Loan was a monster, when in fact he was a loved hero to the Vietnamese public. Eddie Adams felt guilty for taking the picture since it resulted in Loan being made to look like a monster. Also as a result of the photograph, when Loan was injured and hospitalized in Australia the public of Australia was outraged and Loan had to be moved to Washington. 

-Those protesting the Vietnam war: I believe this group would find it useful that the picture was printed since it shows the negativity of war and outrages the public to the point where there would be a lot more anti-war movements.

-US government in support of the Vietnam war: would find this photograph to be very harmful to their cause. It shows the negativity of the war, and since the U.S. would be supporting Long it even makes the U.S. look bad and responsible for the action taken by Long. 

- Eddie Adams in 1969: obviously the picture had good short term outcomes for Adams in that he got the Pulitzer prise for it in 69, but it has a negative long term consequence in that he felt guilty for making Long look like a monster to millions of people when he was actually a beloved hero to the Vietnamese public. 

-Nyugen Ngoc Loan: This is a bad photograph for him but a good one for his cause. It is bad for him because it portrays him as a monster to the public that does not know the background of the situation, and also resulted in him getting removed from the Australian hospital where he was being treated for his war injuries. It is a good photograph for his cause since it shows that there is zero tolerance for the Viet Cong, especially those that harm the public. 

-Nguyen Van Lam's widow: This photograph in the long run helped her out in that the government ended up giving the widow and the children a place to stay, it also resulted in her getting a lot of sympathy by the public. 

-A publisher who must decide if this picture should appear in a fifth grade history book: would end up deciding to not print the picture since it portrays violence. it could also been seen as a way of promoting violence. Children of the age would not understand the background of the story or the reasoning behind the shooting.