for examining the extraordinary protests that have erupted in the United States during the last two years, tracing them to longstanding grievances and the growing power of social media. https://bit.ly/2qTWSJn
for breaking the news that Iraq and the U.S. are in talks over keeping American troops in Iraq for the long term after the Islamic State group is defeated. http://apne.ws/2p9DuW3
for tracking from South America a source at the White House who confirmed that President Trump on at least three occasions last year pressed his aides in private about the possibility of invading Venezuela. https://bit.ly/2KVFl0r
Itâs a subject that has been largely ignored by the public and mainstream press in the U.S.: the plight of thousands of missing and murdered Native American women across the country.
Albuquerque reporter Mary Hudetz and national enterprise journalists Sharon Cohen and David Goldman teamed up to deliver an impressive all-formats package that illuminated these tragedies, engaging readers on one of the busiest news days in recent memory and earning praise from the industry.
For their efforts, Hudetz, Goldman and Cohen win this weekâs Best of the States award.
for a story that revealed how former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newmanâs turn against President Trump wasnât enough to convince blacks to let her return to the family fold. https://bit.ly/2MJbjwW
used strong sourcing, along with prep work and his deep knowledge of the federal court system, to snag a court filing before a judge ordered it redacted, giving Goodman his second major scoop in as many weeks in the case of a top U.S. corruption target from Venezuela.Latin America correspondent Goodman has spent years painstakingly covering the shady dealings between Alex Saab and Venezuelaâs socialist government. But when the Colombian-born businessman was finally extradited to Miami last month, media interest surged, with 300 journalists attending his first court appearance.Goodman, the must-read reporter on corruption in Venezuela, beat all the competition with a major discovery: Saab, who has repeatedly sworn loyalty to President NicolĂĄs Maduro, had been betraying the Venezuelan government for years in secret meetings with U.S. law enforcement. Goodman had previously heard about the meetings from off-the-record sources, but here they were described in a court record that gave him cover to publish. Only Goodman, an ace on the labyrinthine federal courts record system, knew what to look for and could find it before a federal judge removed the document from the docket. Other news organizations were left scrambling to match the AP story.This latest scoop followed Goodmanâs recent reporting that Maduroâs government had quietly offered to swap six imprisoned American oil executives for Saab in a secret Mexico City meeting with a Trump administration envoy and controversial Blackwater founder Erik Prince. https://aplink.news/rix
for capturing how President Donald Trumpâs immigration policies and rhetoric are leaving some Mexican-Americans and immigrants feeling at odds with a holiday they already thought was appropriated by liquor companies, event promoters and bars. http://apne.ws/2pE3Xyh
took readers and viewers inside efforts by Native American tribes to restore bison to their lands after the animals were driven near extinction by white settlers.
Read more.
âHow quickly can you and your boss get here?â
The curt text message to Andean News Director Joshua Goodman from Venezuelaâs normally evasive communications minister promised a tantalizing scoop. It set Goodman and Ian Phillips, vice president for international news, on an intercontinental dash to Caracas to secure embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduroâs first-ever interview with an English-language news agency.
Among the exclusives from the interview, Maduro revealed that his foreign minister had twice met secretly in New York with a Trump administration envoy. It came against a tense backdrop as the U.S. joined other Latin American nations in calling for the leaderâs ouster.
The unprecedented access came as the result of Goodmanâs years of source development with the Venezuelan government, including cultivating pro-government sources and making sure cabinet ministers saw that APâs coverage of the nation was fair and balanced.
The package was a dominating all-formats beat for the AP and a massive draw for customers, with video of the interview downloaded more than 840 by clients around the world. And in a surprise first, Venezuelan state TV also carried the 42-minute interview in its entirety in prime time.
For his masterful source development, resourcefulness and quick work to put the AP ahead, Goodman wins APâs Best of the Week award.
for breaking the news that the U.S. government held a record 69,550 infants, children and teenagers in custody over the past year, published as part of a collaboration with PBSâs âFrontline.â The story and documentary were the result of a collaboration initiated by Burke and led by international investigative editor Ron Nixon. The joint project built on years of Burkeâs work with Mendoza and many colleagues on the immigration beat team and in Latin America. Together, they contniued to press for access inside shelters, interview kids who had been detained, document the trauma risks, and garner interviews with officials responsible for the situation.https://bit.ly/35oq9yBhttps://bit.ly/2O5k4kKhttps://to.pbs.org/2s3fStf
Houston-based immigration reporter Nomaan Merchant uncovered a heartbreaking tale in his coverage of the lingering toll of President Donald Trumpâs family separation policy: a 9-year-old boy, Byron Xol, who is still separated from his parents. The boy eventually landed in the home of a Texas family who took custody of the child, while his parents were deported to Guatemala.
Merchant had been looking for an opportunity to write a detailed narrative that would illustrate the stress that separations have on families. When he learned on short notice of Byronâs upcoming birthday, he decided it was the perfect time to tell the tale.
Merchant and his Houston colleagues â video journalist John Mone and photographer David Phillip â went to the boyâs current foster home outside Austin. Meanwhile, photographer Santiago Billy, reporter Sonny Figueroa and video stringer Sergio Alfaro went to the Guatemalan village of the Xol family. Together they captured the emotion of the day and the sharp contrast between the two worlds, as the dad phoned Byron on his birthday.
The story they produced was gripping, used by more than 400 AP members in the U.S. It was just one of a series of strong pieces that have put names, faces and personal narratives to the immigration story, keeping APâs coverage ahead.
For recognizing the moment and mobilizing quickly across formats and borders, Alfaro, Billy, Figueroa, Merchant, Mone and Phillip share APâs Best of the Week.
scored a timely and exclusive interview with the first Asian American muppet on âSesame Street.âPhoenix-based Tang had been watching for race-related news tied to the classic childrenâs television show, when Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind the show, reached out about giving AP the exclusive on their first ever Asian American muppet â a 7-year-old Korean American named Ji-Young.Tang knew the story would resonate after a wave of attacks against Asian Americans and calls for greater Asian American and Pacific Islander representation, and she looked forward to writing âJi-Young told The Associated Press.â She teamed up with New York-based video journalist Noreen Nasir, who also saw the cultural importance of the story as well as the potential to have fun telling it.Nasir interviewed both Ji-Young and longtime âSesame Streetâ favorite Ernie, being careful not to show the puppeteers, and snapped photos of the muppets. Then she and Tang interviewed Kathleen Kim, the Korean American puppeteer behind Ji-Young, about the impact of portraying a groundbreaking character.Tang arranged for AP to release the text story and photos exclusively at an hour when both audiences in the U.S. and Asia could wake up to the story, followed shortly by the video, generating strong interest from customers and readers.https://aplink.news/fi2https://aplink.video/blr
for their multi-format report on how Americaâs sturgeons are mounting a comeback from the edge of extinction. They not only documented the recovery of nine sturgeon species and subspecies but also provided a comprehensive look at the history of the ancient fishâs decline from pollution, dams and overfishing. https://bit.ly/2LZTpW6https://bit.ly/2YbWZ5R
When New York photo editor Pablo Salinas alerted colleagues to the image of a drowned father and daughter from El Salvador lying face-down in the Rio Grande after they tried to cross into Texas, it was clear it captured, like few other images, the dangers faced by migrants and asylum-seekers trying to make it to the United States.
APâs much-applauded decision to acquire and publish that image by freelance reporter Julia Le Duc, showing the stark and often-hidden reality of migrants dying by the hundreds each year along the U.S. border, showcased APâs significant role in shaping the news agenda.
It also stands as a lesson for AP staff with several important takeaways, highlighting the role of editors to find, gather and acquire important images for APâs global audience, the role of APâs Top Stories Hub to coordinate and amplify news stories, and the value of rapid response by journalists in the region to verify, report and provide context for any news-making picture.
Finally, it showed how the thoughtful implementation of APâs standards across all platforms and social media can allow AP to stand out.
For an exceptional multinational effort in finding, recognizing and acquiring Le Ducâs tragic and important image, and presenting it to APâs worldwide audience with context and sensitivity, the team of Pablo Salinas, Marcos AlemĂĄn, Eduardo Verdugo, Rebecca Blackwell, Chris Sherman, Gerardo Carrillo and Peter Orsi shares APâs Best of the Week award.
for an all-formats look at the legacy of the Native American occupation of Alcatraz Island 50 years later, including an interview with filmmaker Peter Bratt who was 7 years old when he accompanied his mother to the former prison. The 19-month occupation is widely seen as a pivotal event that prompted tribes to organize and advocate for indigenous rights. https://bit.ly/35FaJX4https://bit.ly/2OYkKrr
pulled off a thoughtful, enterprising story about how the pandemic was playing out in Franceâs South American territory, French Guiana. With revealing interviews, Pedram showed how French Guianaâs outbreak exposed deep economic and racial inequality in the overseas department of about 300,000 people where poverty is rampant and health care is scarce. The story hit the two themes that are dominating news agendas among AP clients: the pandemic and racial inequality.In an AP interview, a representative of French Guianaâs Indigenous communities explained how the appearance of white doctors sent from the French mainland caused alarm, not relief. âThere is still in the minds the time of colonization and the havoc wreaked by viruses brought by colonizers,â Jean-Philippe Chambrier, a member of the Arawak tribe, told Pedram. âSo when they saw white people from the mainland, they made the link.âThe story included images by photojournalist Pierre Olivier Jay. https://bit.ly/2WRNPK1
offered a penetrating, well-researched look at the puzzle behind the disaster we are living: âA nation with unmatched power, brazen ambition and aspirations through the arc of history to be humanityâs âshining city upon a hillâ cannot come up with enough simple cotton swabsâ to test its people. Woodward looked at the many ways America has fallen short, including a western Massachusetts medical center that was forced to pick up masks more than five hours away using two tractor-trailers disguised as grocery trucks, dodging interference from Homeland Security and taking separate routes back in case one load got intercepted on the highway. https://bit.ly/3bOI2KD
turned a routine feature into a news-breaking story by successfully pressing ABC to address Native American groupsâ criticism that its show âBig Skyâ failed to acknowledge the problem of missing and abused women on native land. Few outlets had reported on it, and none had gotten a response from ABC.Elber spoke to native groups and pressed ABC, but was repeatedly told the network would have no response. But just before filing her story, Elber received a statement from ABC acknowledging the concerns and vowing to work with native groups to rectify them. The network gave the AP a dayâs beat on all other outlets, and that nightâs âBig Skyâ episode carried for the first time a message about missing women and exploited children. https://bit.ly/39TR0YU
A team of AP reporters delivered two straight days of deeply reported, distinctive and aggressive coverage on the release by Venezuela of two American detainees, including one of the group of oil executives known as the Citgo 6 â an internationally competitive story.APâs coverage depended on cross-border coordination between Goodman in Miami, Garcia Cano in Caracas and Tucker in Washington, all leaning on sources and hustling to track fast-moving developments in Venezuela. Read more
Hundreds of migrants try each day to cross the Darien Gap â a thick jungle between Colombia and Panama traversed by many ultimately seeking the U.S. border â yet journalists rarely observe more than the first few steps of the journey.
But after days of negotiations with locals who participate in a human-trafficking network, the Bogota-based all-formats team of correspondent Astrid SuĂĄrez, photographer Fernando Vergara and video journalist Marko Ălvarez were given exclusive access to the first hour of a treacherous six-day journey. That single hour was enough to tell the stories of migrants willing to risk their lives in a jungle teeming with threats, from raging rivers to gangs targeting migrants for theft and sexual assault.
For a stark all-formats portrait of desperation and determination in the depths of the jungle, SuĂĄrez, Vergara and Ălvarez earn APâs Best of the Week â First Winner.
