Best of the States

High-profile Georgia race focuses national attention on voter ID requirements

In the current political and media environment, it’s not often that a state politics story without President Donald Trump’s name in it drives a national political conversation for almost a week.

But that’s what happened when Atlanta-based newsperson Ben Nadler published a look at Georgia’s “exact match” voter registration verification process and other policies backed by Secretary of State Brian Kemp. Kemp, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, faces Democrat Stacey Abrams, vying to become the first black female governor of any state.

According to records obtained by Nadler from Kemps office through a public records request, 53,000 registrations – 70 percent of them from black applicants – were on hold with less than a month before the Nov. 6 election. Nadler also found that Kemp’s office has cancelled more than 1.4 million inactive voter registrations since 2012 – nearly 670,000 registrations in 2017 alone.

The story got tremendous play with AP customers over multiple news cycles and lit up social media.

For his deep look at a critical issue in Georgia’s high-stakes gubernatorial election and driving a national political discussion for days, Nadler wins this week’s Best of the States award.

Best of the Week — First Winner

​Ex-sect members tell AP that prosecutors obstructed abuse cases

It’s one of the most important lessons of investigative journalism: One good story can lead to another. Don’t give up after the first round. Keep digging.

That’s what Mitch Weiss of the national investigative team did after his explosive first story on the Word of Faith Fellowship. His follow-up story earns the Beat of the Week.

It took Weiss many months to persuade 43 former members of the Fellowship to open up – on the record and identified – with stories of adults and children being slapped, punched, choked and slammed to the floor in the name of the Lord. But getting so many of the reluctant ex-congregants to talk was only the start of his journalistic journey.

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP Investigation: Secret report linked Honduran national police chief to cartel coke delivery

Reporters Christopher Sherman, Martha Mendoza and Garance Burke were weeks into a deep look at police misconduct in Honduras, where public mistrust of law enforcement is among the highest in the world. So when they heard a new national police chief had been appointed, they immediately shifted gears and began asking questions about him.

What they found was explosive – a confidential government security document that detailed a troubling allegation regarding the force. It said the newly named National Police Chief Jose David Aguilar Moran had once helped a drug cartel leader pull off the delivery of nearly a ton of cocaine. The clandestine haul, worth at least $20 million on U.S. streets, was packed inside a tanker truck that, the report said, was escorted by corrupt police officers to the home of Wilter Blanco, a drug trafficker recently convicted in Florida and now serving a 20-year sentence.

For their dogged reporting, Sherman, Mendoza and Burke share the Beat of the Week.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Story of town employee who reduced fluoride in water goes national

teamed up on a story examining the controversy over a Vermont town employee who secretively reduced the fluoride in the town’s water supply for years.Rathke reported from the town’s water commission meeting and the trio fleshed out the story with background and context on the health benefits of fluoride and some of the persistent misinformation around it.The final story — among the most-viewed on AP News last week — used the small-town flare-up to tap into the larger interest in fluoride and offered yet another example of how misinformation is impacting even at a local level. It was also a textbook example of elevating a local story to one of interest nationally.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Leery of North Korea, US plans first test of ICBM intercept

for getting an exclusive heads-up that the United States would conduct its first-ever test effort to shoot down an intercontinental ballistic missile. http://www.time.com/4796334/pentagon-us-north-kore...

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP team perseveres for access to China’s proposed ‘Yellowstone’

for overcoming major bureaucratic and logistical hurdles to produce the ninth installment in the “What Can Be Saved” series: an immersive look at Sanjiangyuan, China’s first proposed national park, in one of the most pristine areas of the Tibetan plateau.https://bit.ly/348cPybhttps://bit.ly/2OvkGza

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Memorial Day: A sister uses her gifts to send messages to fallen soldier

for her all-formats Only on AP narrative timed to Memorial Day, in collaboration with Wisconsin videojournalist Carrie Antlfinger. They told the story of how a violinmaker who lost her soldier-brother in Iraq used her creative gifts to channel her grief and pay unique tribute to him and other veterans. https://www.apnews.com/b3bd6d3791574874839abfba058...

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP scoop on all-male Morehouse admitting transgender students

for breaking major news about an iconic all-male black college allowing transgender students for the first time. It was a notable shift for Atlanta’s Morehouse College and came as colleges around the country have been wrestling with LGBT questions. The scoop prompted local and national media to match the story. https://bit.ly/2Ur5vYP

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

NFL scrambles to restart disability benefits after AP reporting

Eddie Pells, Denver-based national sports writer, reported exclusively that a fund jointly run by the NFL and the players union had given out $127 million in health benefits to disabled retired players in 2019, but had gone completely dormant since March, approving no applications and not reimbursing any medical bills. The source for the story, a former player, contacted AP because he was familiar with Pells’ previous reporting and wanted the story to have as wide an audience as possible. Within a day of getting questions from Pells, the NFL scrambled to send a letter to all applicants saying approvals would restart soon. AP was alone with the story, which played on ESPN’s SportsCenter and was used on the crawls of all the major sports networks. https://bit.ly/3c4yFr2

Best of the Week — First Winner

All-formats team chronicles a pivotal 24 hours in ‘The Fight for New York’

On April 6 – the day when the COVID-19 death toll in New York City exceeded the toll of the Sept. 11 attacks – a team of AP journalists fanned out to tell the stories of average New Yorkers navigating the pandemic. 

From the bodega owner whose remaining customers are often funeral home workers, to a paramedic worried about the way the onslaught of cases was eating away at him and other first responders, the stories provided a vivid account of a city bent, but not broken, by the virus. “The Fight for New York” was a testament to the AP at its finest: smart planning and collaboration leading to 11 impactful text and video stories, more than two dozen photos and nine social edits, all delivered to customers with remarkable speed.

The package immediately resonated with readers, viewers and customers, winning strong play on the websites of most major news organizations. 

For extraordinary teamwork, planning and execution, the team of journalists behind “The Fight for New York” wins AP’s Best of the Week award.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP lands interviews with Anita Hill, 2 top #MeToo figures

has built a strong source relationship with the very private Anita Hill over the course of 15 years, interviewing her many times. The national writer has also developed ties with other high-profile figures in the #MeToo movement, earning a reputation of trust and respect.That source building resulted in a series of three recent interviews with women of color, all advocates for victims of sexual harassment and abuse:— #MeToo founder Tarana Burke— the first interview in any format with Monifa Bandele the new head of the embattled organization Time’s Up— Hill, who gave Noveck one of just two on-camera interviews to mark the release of her new book on sexual violence, which comes 30 years after her testimony in Congress against Clarence Thomas.All three appeared on camera, speaking of their experiences facing sexual misconduct and how American society must deal simultaneously with its race and gender struggles, because one cannot be solved without the other.https://aplink.news/okmhttps://aplink.video/wn9https://aplink.news/x3chttps://aplink.news/vqq

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP probes a pharmaceutical fortune, dispersed in a global labyrinth

Amid reports of an opioid settlement, an investigation shows the myriad ways that the Sackler family which owns Purdue Pharma in a web of companies and trusts, many of them overseas.Adam Geller, national writer, New York. Geller reviewed court papers, securities filings and documents leaked from an exclusive Bermuda law firm. He found that the family has shielded its wealth in ways that could complicate efforts to recover the money in opioid settlements.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/familys-web-makes-it-hard-to-track-cash-from-opioid-maker/2019/08/29/80d4f43e-ca99-11e9-9615-8f1a32962e04_story.html

Best of the States

Players open up to AP, describe coach’s abusive practices at Oregon State

National sports writer Eddie Pells was first approached in February by the mom of a player who said she had some concerns about abuses going on in the volleyball program at Oregon State. 

Over the next five months, Pells conducted dozens of interviews both in and out of the program, and checked with experts to learn if volleyball coach Mark Barnard was over the line. Several athletes spoke to Pells, including a former OSU player who described how the coach’s abusive practices contributed to a suicide attempt. 

Pells’ exclusive led to immediate calls for the coach’s firing and questions about the university officials who didn’t take action after hearing complaints. 

For months of persistent and sensitive reporting despite uncertain prospects, resulting in an impressive story with impact, Pells wins this week’s Best of the States award.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Intimate photo essays tell the stories of Italian nurses, doctor

produced three moving photo essays that intimately portray the daily lives of two nurses and a doctor in northern Italy who agreed to not only let AP into their workplaces, but their homes. The team set out to capture with context and detail what a day was like for health care workers, showing their efforts – sometimes fruitless – to help patients survive the coronavirus, and the sacrifices they must make to avoid bringing the virus home to their families.https://bit.ly/3aBVgc6https://bit.ly/2zuerbfhttps://bit.ly/3eQyLUq

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

In-depth look at resisters committed to abortion access

set out to explore the abortion rights resistance — dedicated advocates for abortion access who are grappling with what is expected to be a wave of women seeking abortions as the U.S. Supreme Court takes aim at Roe v. Wade and states tighten restrictions, pushing pregnant people farther from home — some hundreds of miles away.After interviewing more than a dozen people, the pair reported for all-formats on a woman with a Midwest coalition providing “practical support” for women seeking abortions. Galofaro and Irvine spent days on her Missouri farm, shadowing Alison Dreith as she fielded calls on a hotline used by women desperate for help.And a companion story revealed the deeply religious employees of an Alabama abortion clinic who have no trouble reconciling their work with their religion, breaking preconceptions about the religious divide over abortion.Both stories won wide use and high reader engagement, prompting praise for balanced, nuanced coverage.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP: Sister’s book claims Natalie Wood was assaulted by Douglas

secured the first look at a memoir by Natalie Wood’s sister, breaking the story that Kirk Douglas was the man who allegedly sexually assaulted Wood.

AP national writer Italie had been trying for years to get more details about the dark Hollywood secret. Wood’s younger sister Lana had dangled that she would name the person who assaulted Wood only after he was dead. Italie had a hunch Douglas was that person, but couldn't confirm it until now. Well-sourced in the publishing world, he landed a first read of Lana’s memoir naming Douglas for the assault of her sister.

Italie made sure AP would be first to break it, building in time to craft a fully formed story and give the Douglas family ample chance to respond. Actor Michael Douglas’ response did not refute Lana Wood’s claim, simply saying: “May they both rest in peace.”The piece was a major draw — AP’s top story in reader engagement for the week. News outlets from Variety to The Times of London picked up the story with credit to AP. https://aplink.news/hh6

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP delivers fast, comprehensive, all-formats coverage of Uvalde, Texas, school shooting

AP journalists were on the U.S-Mexico border for an immigration assignment May 24 when they got word of a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. They quickly gathered their gear and rushed to Robb Elementary School, where they found chaotic scenes of law enforcement surrounding the school. The staffers immediately went to work providing photos and live video.

That swift response to the unfolding tragedy made the AP the first national news organization on the scene and set the tone for the rest of the week. As more staff deployed, AP delivered dominant, all-formats coverage that explored with sensitivity not only the shooting that left 19 fourth graders and two teachers dead, but inconsistencies in the actions and statements of police — and much more.

Readers and customers responded with exceptional engagement.

For a powerful example of the AP at its finest on a major news story that has led to an outpouring of sympathy for the families, questions about police practices and the latest reckoning on guns and school safety, the AP Uvalde coverage team earns Best of the Week — First Winner.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

‘Empty spaces, broken hearts’: Uvalde, Texas, in mourning

collaborated on an extraordinary portrait of a town grieving after the May 24 mass shooting that left gaping holes in its fabric.In a chaotic and fraught environment with countless journalists gathered around the memorials and overwhelming the family members of shooting victims, the AP trio decided to approach the story differently — they wanted to explore the connections within the Uvalde community. They split up, looking for the people in that next circle of relationships: barbers, bus drivers and others who crossed paths with the affected families.It all came together in a heart-wrenching package that appeared on numerous websites and front pages. The team received compliments from readers — and one of the individuals they profiled — for the sensitive and compassionate way they covered this traumatic story.Read more

Best of the States

The ‘Left Behind’; AP profiles the other victims of opioids

As the opioid epidemic barrels into its third decade, it’s increasingly hard to find fresh ways to report on the problem. One group that has always been present, usually in the background of stories, are the parents, hundreds of thousands of them who desperately tried to save their children, then buried them anyway. Louisville, Kentucky-based national writer Claire Galofaro chose to focus on them, the survivors who have lost the most to the epidemic.

The project involved journalists across formats throughout the country – Jae Hong, Steven Senne, Pat Semansky, Jeff Roberson, Mark Humphrey, Rodrique Ngowi, Krysta Fauria, Dario Lopez, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Carla Johnson – teaming with Galofaro and enterprise editors Pauline Arrillaga, Jeannie Ohm, Raghu Vadarevu and Enric Marti to think creatively about how text, video, multimedia and photos could work together.

The result was two beautifully written narratives paired with photographs, an extensive Q&A about the epidemic, a full video story and three digital videos in which we hear three different mothers talking about the extreme lengths they went to to try and save their children.

The series struck a raw nerve – engagement was extraordinary: The main story was No. 1 on apnews.com the day it ran, and it appeared on newspaper front pages nationwide. A week later, news outlets were still using it. Hundreds of readers sent emails and tweets. More than one person said that they felt like they were sitting with these families in their living rooms.

For a cross-format effort so intimate, so devastating, it recaptured the attention of a nation that had been exhausted by stories about the opioid epidemic, the team that produced the Left Behind package wins this week’s Best of the States award.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Exclusive: Boy Scouts mortgaging iconic New Mexico scout ranch

for reporting exclusively that the Boy Scouts of America was taking a surprising step: It was putting Philmont Scout Ranch – a pristine 150,000 acre camp in New Mexico, considered the crown jewel in the organization’s network of camps – up as collateral as it deals with financial fallout over a wave of sex-abuse lawsuits. It was the latest in a series of scoops by Crary about the Boy Scouts and their financial troubles, including his recent break about the organization increasing membership fees by more than double. https://bit.ly/2qZsQbe