25 of the Most Influential News Images of All Time

very old images , and some of them are very painful 🙁

these photo’s still have a big impact on people even nowadays. A small mistake at 9 11 “September 11, 2011. This day marked the…” it’s 2001 not 2011.

Very heavy photos. But will be never forgotten byppl around the wprld

The Moment of Death and the Iwo Jima photos both were more than likely staged.

That doesn’t negate their impact, or exclude them from this list.

I just thought it should be mentioned.

the date for 911 is incorrect as maxgraph said 4 days ago. should probably change it before offending people and out of respect of the victims of 911

Most of he photos depict war, violence, and death….just shows you how shitty and dumb the human race actually is.

deeply saddening images of the harm man can do.

The your description of the “Saigon War Crime” pic is off. Yeah it is a brutal picture, but the man being shot was responsible for the ruthless killings of several innocent people including women and young children. The police chief in the picture is a hero, but people never realize this because the pic makes us sympathize with the murderer.

September 11 2001, not 2011.

Just a very minor and unimportant point about the first photo. People are “hanged” not hung.

I have some comments on the received ‘facts’ of these pictures as they seem to illustrate an ignorance of what is portrayed in some cases…

The police chief in Saigon was executing an enemy soldier found out of uniform committing murders. You may think it brutal but it wasn’t a crime.

The Kent State protests were not ‘out of control’ when students were murdered by National Gaurdsmen and characterising their deaths as their responsibility for protesting is unreasonable and untruthful.

What evidence is there that the Garden District of New Orleans is on fire from vandals rather than a consequence of the storm and flooding?

There was a clear omission. Afghan Girl should be in this list

Several flagrant distortions of the truth in the descriptions.

Kevin Carters suicide is wrongfully brought up as context of his famous photograph. Carter suffered from depression and according to his suicide note his choice of killing himself had nothing to do with the photograph.

the photo of the “suspected vietcong” officer being shot was actually due to the fact that the suspect was captured near the site of a ditch holding as many as thirty-four bound and shot bodies of police and their relatives. Some of whom were the families of General Nguyễn’s deputy and close friend, and six of whom were Nguyễn’s godchildren. The photographer Adams confirmed the South Vietnamese account, although he was only present for the execution.

While the crime committed by the “suspected vietcong” was atrocious and horrifying, nothing justifies the killing of another. So to say that the man who is photographed shooting him in the head when he is clearly not able to defend himself is a hero, as someone above did, doesn’t seem right to me. Yes, it’s a matter of ideology, but his death did not bring justice to those left in the aftermath of his crime, nor did it bring back those whose lives he ended. Of course I have never been in the shoes of the man holding the gun in the picture, and I cannot say I wouldn’t be pushed to such a reaction, but he cannot be called a hero for letting his emotions overtake his humanity and reason.

A correction that no one has pointed out yet is that only three of the men in the Iwo Jima picture are Marines, the fourth is a Navy Medic

@ Mark: actually, I am hung.

The caption for the photo depicting the Kent State killings is deceptive. Mary Ann Vecchio was a junior high school runaway from Florida. The caption seems to indicate that she was a Kent State student. That is not the case.

Impressive selection.
A little Americanocentric I’d say.

too bad new orleans was not affected by hurrican Katrina.

Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, and Abigail Folger were murdered August 9, 1969…I don’t think the picture of Roman Polanski on the bloody porch could have been dated August 1, 1969

some interesting additions, some more note-worthy than others. Easy to see how you’re a little too “American” still… something to think about. Also, the photograph by K. Pieterson, which you so aptly term “death in africa”, falsely portrays the context in which it was taken. Do me a favour, read the Bang Bang Club.

Your commentary on the Kent massacre (dead student) really bothers me. Please read more about the subject. These students were murdered by the US government.

the island is iwo jima, the mountain is Mt. Suribachi, and the US did not declare war, we haven’t since WWII <— this is also the appropriate abbreviation, not WW2

all the same, powerful images, good compilation

Very U.S. centric, absolutely not the 25 most influential news images of all time. Maybe for a little 3rd world country like the U.S. (not AAA rated…)

Great pics. Some of the descriptions are awfully slanted, though, probably unintentionally. I actually laughed at the one from Kent State — kind of places the blame on the anti-war demonstrators, as opposed to, you know, the soldiers who fired guns at them. Maybe it should have said something about an out-of-control government or out-of-control military instead of an out-of-control demonstration — how many soldiers were killed by these “out-of-control” activists that day?

These photos are something. I think the photo that got to me the most, was the one with the african child. This photo has a lot of emotion. It seems like this child can not fight one more day longer. As is this child is waiting for his body to shot down. The worst part about this photo is how there is a vulture waiting for the cycle of life to be complete.
I wonder if the person who took this picture really scared the vulture away after taking this picture. I think he might not have, and that was the reason he decided to take his life shortly after tooking this amazing photo.

A number of disturbing mistakes and insensitive captions, as others have noted. The account you are giving of Kent State is very incorrect.

The account of the Tank Man is also incorrect (and too short). Those tanks are **leaving** Tiananmen Square, not entering it, after the massacre.

The lynching caption is also disturbing. “More severe than agreed upon” is an understatement. Let’s not pretend that they got a fair trial to begin with.

I’m sorry, but there are two sides to the kent state shooting. This “seemingly harmless demonstration” was not so harmless. People were burning down school buildings and destroying stores and homes in the town nearby. Calling the National Guard was completely warranted. And new evidence shows distant shots triggered the Guards’ reaction. This wasn’t some random murderous action by the US. And I go to Kent State, so I know what I’m talking about.

PICS ARE SRS BSNSS. AMERICA IS SRS BSNSS. DON’T OFFEND PEOPLE!!!!11

But seriously, everyone, stop being so uptight about some errors. If people really wanted to know the history of these pictures, they’d just wiki it.
Relax

To label these images as the most influential images of all time is a slight sweeping statement. Although I understand that this is probably a US site and I acknowledge that you have made the effort to include photographs from other origins, I feel that you are only representing the US in this collection of images. By all means, label this group of images as influential news images to a person of the United States, but do not claim them to be representative of the world we live in- it shows ignorance and is, in a way, offensive to other countries who have so much of their own history documented by images which you have not included.

The Iwo Jima photo wasn’t really staged. When the marines first raised the flag all they had was a small flag and a pole “tree” that they found. Later on they brought up a bigger flag with a better pole. there are pictures of both raisings.

Hopefully since these photos are in the past we as man kind can learn from them to prevent what has already happened.

i think the photo of the couple kissing in the middle of the vancouver riot should be added to this. It seems quite inspirational to me.

Do you have a post like this that isn’t entirely about the United States? Aside from two photos, the rest of the collection is so bias

the last pic is of many American war crimes , there is a difference between a war crime and taking it too far

“Student Mary Ann Vecchio is seen here kneeling near the body of another student by the name of Jeffrey Miller. The anti-war demonstrations by students of the Kent State University went terribly out of hand on May 4, 1970. This image stands to remind us what a seemingly harmless demonstration, even for the right cause, can turn into when uncontrolled.”

What?? Soldiers shooting and killing anti-war demonstrators is a lesson about a demonstration being “uncontrolled?” That is horrifically offensive and you should be ashamed of yourself. That picture is a stark reminder of the measures the US government will take to quell dissent. It’s a reminder of the repression against activists. Not a warning to “control” one’s peaceful demonstration.

The photographer of the ‘Saigon war crime’ apologized to the General in the photo for the way the image was misinterpreted and ruined his life. The ‘misinterpretation’ is the way you have perpetuated in your description. Please do your research.

Terrible title and caption for “Saigon War Crime,” not even close. Forget the fact that the guy being shot (Bay Lop) had been leading an assassination team on the guy shooting (Gen. Nguyen Loan) and other S Vietnam leaders. Also forget the fact that the guy had been connected to beheadings, and was caught in the act of gunning down policemen. The reaction to this photo was so incongruous with what happened that Eddie Adams, the photographer, stated he wished he had never taken the photo.

This makes me uncertain about some of the other images, as a simple Google search would have have revealed to you that your caption is 100% wrong.

@Monty Who says the misinterpretation doesn’t matter, that this image was still powerful, is this then not a perfect example of the kind of damage such a misinterpretation (and in this article, misrepresentation) can cause?

Also, Hiroshima did not end WWII, it might have if the Japanese leaders had known the totality of the destruction. Still, Nagasaki was hit 3 days later and still it took almost a week for Japan to surrender.

The demonstrators didn’t get out of hand at Kent State. The cops did.

” and the naked girl after Hiroshima didn’t make this list.”

The naked girl was in Vietnam after a napalm strike on her village. She was naked because the napalm literally burned the clothes from her back.

I’ve seen many lists of “most influential pictures” on the internet and I’m afraid this has to rank as one of the poorest efforts. The captions are misleading and the photo choices are quite strange. There are at least a dozen more influential photos that spring to mind.

These photos are all incrediable and do all represent a moment in history that shouldnt be forgotten however before publishing the facts should’ve been checked more closely. Thompson’s migrant mother was not a picture of a migrant. Please update your article to include the corrections as the last thing we need is more misinformation

An excellent set of photographs, but a terrifically poorly written set of photograph descriptions.

arguably most influential image of one’s spirit – “the che guevara picture”, is missing. i guess it’s obvious that the author didn’t put that picture for political reasons, his or his superior’s visions of “the most influential pictures” simply eliminated that picture.
just to tell you this, barrack obama’s PR tried to resemble the style of that picture in the “campaign for change”.

actually…i know the son of a man who was literally standing right out of the frame for the Viet Cong picture and the caption is not right.