Iconic News Images and Their Hidden Stories

Certain photographs have the power to transcend time, becoming symbols of resistance, hope, and human triumph.

Yet behind every shot lies a lesser-known story -- of the people depicted, the events that shaped them, and the photographers who created history.

Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story includes the name and image of an Indigenous person who has died.

Tank man (1989)

An unidentified man, carrying nothing but shopping bags, stood his ground in front of a row of tanks in Beijing. It was the morning after the Tiananmen Square massacre, where hundreds -- if not thousands -- of pro-democracy protesters were killed by the Chinese military.

The photo, deemed so dangerous by the Chinese government that it's been omitted from history books and scrubbed from the internet, lives on elsewhere as a powerful symbol of defiance.

Interestingly, there are several near-identical versions of this photograph. The limited number of international journalists who captured the tense stand-off were stationed at the same hotel, with a similar vantage point. But it was an ABC TV crew -- journalist Max Uechtritz and cameraman Willie Phua -- who captured video footage of Tank Man.

Uechtritz recalled the shocking moment vividly. "During that early morning, Willie called out to me, 'Max, you've got to see this." So I raced out of the room and looked in the eye-piece of his camera. There was this guy, standing in front of the tank. And you knew straight away... you feared straight away for him.

"He climbed up on top of the tank. He said something [like] 'Why have you brought all this chaos to our city'? We had our hearts in our mouth. At any moment he could be just shot by one of the many ... snipers.

"But he was then bundled away by a bunch of men and we don't know whether those people were secret police or if they were just protesters who wanted to save his life."

Uechtritz's experience in Beijing was the inspiration behind a key storyline in the new season of ABC iview drama The Newsreader.

"That moment has lived on because it's become a symbol of resistance and a symbol of people power."

Apollo 11 (1969)

In one of the most highly-anticipated moments in modern history, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin claimed the title of the first humans to set foot on the moon. Many people would be surprised to know that although Armstrong is famous for being the first man on the moon, he is not, in fact, the subject of this photo. He was the photographer, and the astronaut pictured is Aldrin.

While the footage was broadcast on TV to an estimated 650 million people, the photo of Aldrin remains a triumphant -- and artistically beautiful -- symbol of human progress. The image was one of 166 photos captured by the pair on their two-and-a-half-hour moonwalk. According to NASA, these photos are the only stills of humans on another world.

While on the moon's surface, the astronauts erected an American flag, which Aldrin says was blown over by the exhaust from the ascent engine during lift-off. They also left a silicon disc, which displayed goodwill messages from world leaders, including Queen Elizabeth II. Their mission remains a pinnacle of human exploration.

Napalm girl (1972)

It's widely considered one of the most iconic images of the 20th century, but Nick Ut's Pulitzer Prize-winning photo almost didn't see the light of day. Ut submitted the picture to the Associated Press (AP) which came close to rejecting the image because of its strict rules about publishing nudity.

A nine-year-old girl is seen running naked in the aftermath of a US napalm attack during the Vietnam War. She had torn off her burning clothes. The girl in the photo, Phan Thi Kim Phuc, credits photographer Ut with saving her life.

After capturing the harrowing moment, Kim Phuc said Ut rushed her to hospital and demanded she be treated. She had burns covering 65 per cent of her body. The pair have remained friends ever since.

Ut has been a vocal advocate for journalists to help in situations like the one he was confronted with, as opposed to sticking to a non-interventionist code. Now living in Canada, Kim Phuc founded The KIM Foundation International to support child victims of war.

The photograph has recently been embroiled in controversy after the release of Sundance documentary, The Stringer, which alleges Ut was wrongly credited for the photo and it was allegedly taken by NBC News driver Nguyen Thanh Nghe. These claims have been categorically rejected by Ut and AP, and are set to become the subject of defamation proceedings, according to Ut's lawyer.

Wave Hill (1975)

This symbolic gesture between prime minister Gough Whitlam and activist Vincent Lingiari marked the end of a nine-year protest and ushered in a new era for Aboriginal land rights. On 16 August 1975, Whitlam handed over a leasehold title to the Gurindji people at Daguragu, making them the first Aboriginal community to have land returned to them by the Commonwealth government.

But what many Australians might not know is this photo, taken by Indigenous photographer Mervyn Bishop, was actually re-staged after the fact. "As soon as the formalities had ended, I approached Mr Whitlam and said: 'Mr Whitlam, can we reshoot this picture outside in the sunlight, blue skies?'"

"Very well," the Prime Minister replied. "So I kind of set him up, posed him, with the deeds in his left hand, put down his right hand. And Mr Whitlam bent down, picked up a handful of soil, and said: 'Will this do?'"

The striking staged photo became a pivotal and symbolic image for Aboriginal land rights and the reconciliation movement.

Princess Diana (1987)

When Princess Diana opened the UK's first purpose-built HIV-AIDS unit in April 1987, she shook the hand of a patient -- without wearing gloves -- to prove the virus was not transmitted through touch. Misinformation, hysteria, and scaremongering had been rife in the media's reporting of the epidemic, and this was her way of setting the record straight.

John O'Reilly was a nurse on the ward at the time of Princess Diana's pivotal visit and previously told the BBC her presence was a major coup for everybody affected by the disease. Hospital staff were eager for their photo opportunity, but the patients hid from the media as they didn't trust them because of the alarmist coverage of HIV-AIDS.

But one patient, the man in the now-famous photo, agreed to be in the photo with the Princess of Wales. "I don't think it took a lot of convincing for him because he was dying and he thought, 'Well, so what? I'll do it.'" O'Reilly said.

He also recalled how impressed he was that Princess Diana clapped back at a condescending doctor who asked if she knew what an x-ray was. "He was holding up an x-ray of a chest. She just very politely said, 'I'm a patron of the British Heart and Lung Foundation, of course I know an x-ray is.'

Black summer bushfires (2019)

With the dramatic burnt-red sky, a respirator mask, and a seemingly innocent child caught up in danger, you could be forgiven for thinking this image was something out of an apocalyptic film. The photo, widely shared at the time, captured not just the devastation but also the resilience of those facing one of Australia's worst natural disasters.

It was taken by Allison Marion of her 11-year-old son Finn, as they evacuated the Mallacoota bushfire by boat. Speaking to ABC Radio in early 2020, Marion said she had no idea how much of an impact her photo would have.

"I was taking the photos to just record, I guess, our story for our family," she said. Marion said she lost track of time but that they were lucky enough to be with a convoy of other locals and families.

"We followed them out to Goodwin Sands where we located for the day. There were a lot of Mallacoota people out there sheltering," she told the ABC. "Our street somehow escaped the fire, however, I feel for many people in our community who have lost their homes. It's just truly saddening."

Although about 60 homes were lost in Mallacoota, Marion's family was able to return home to their undamaged property.

What Makes An Image Iconic?

Dr Robert Hassan, a professor of media and communication at the University of Melbourne, said the making of an iconic image was largely driven by the media itself.

"[The photos] were taken, developed, and distributed through newspapers, old legacy media." However, Dr Hassan believes the digital age has changed that.

"As soon as [a photo goes] online, which is now how most people see their news, someone can copy and get into the source code and begin to manipulate it -- colour it, change it ... and what we become is confused," he said.

"What we see is the providence of anything as questionable. If nothing is true, then nothing is real. And that's one of the big problems for journalism."

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