The real story behind the Afghan refugee photo

March 1, 2019 12:09 PM

Photographer Tony Northrup explains the real story behind the iconic cover photograph for National Geographic taken by Steve McCurry (previously). For many; including Tony, the photo was inspirational when it came out in 1984. But there was a darker side to the story (SLYT).
posted by jabo (8 comments total)

Well that's a somewhat depressing expose. Glad to know the truth of what happened and sad for Sharbat's exploitation. I hope NatGeo owns up to it as I generally consider them to be a pretty impartial resource for international journalism. As he mentioned towards the end of the video, they've raised a lot of support for Afghan girls.
posted by allkindsoftime at 1:48 PM on March 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

I hope NatGeo owns up to it as I generally consider them to be a pretty impartial resource for international journalism.

National Geographic is now owned by Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox.
posted by a complicated history at 2:02 PM on March 1, 2019 [10 favorites]

We were talking about this photo in class this week. McCurry has literally made millions of this photo while Sharbat Gula was living in refugee camps and we only know her name because he went back twenty years later and tracked her down for another shoot. He'd never bothered to even get her name the first time and certainly never got a model release or shared any of his revenue with her.

This article from the Times from a few years ago is a nice critique of McCurry's inherent orientalism.
posted by octothorpe at 2:05 PM on March 1, 2019 [15 favorites]

Last year from the editor of the Geographic itself: For Decades, Our Coverage Was Racist. To Rise Above Our Past, We Must Acknowledge It
posted by octothorpe at 2:12 PM on March 1, 2019 [6 favorites]

National Geographic is now owned by Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox.

Well fuck.
posted by allkindsoftime at 2:14 PM on March 1, 2019

National Geographic is now owned by Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox.


Well, kind of. It's an asset in the current transfer of 21st Century Fox to Disney's hands.
posted by Navelgazer at 3:32 PM on March 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

Christ, what an asshole.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 4:02 PM on March 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

National Geographic is now owned by Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox.

Well, kind of. It's an asset in the current transfer of 21st Century Fox to Disney's hands.

And their current leader is an ex-Goldman Sachs hoo-ha.
Guess it takes a lot of money to fund Nat Geo.
posted by Mesaverdian at 10:20 AM on March 2, 2019