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
teamed up to make AP first to report on how the pandemic exacerbated the spread of opioid addiction among Black Americans. Their story focused on St. Louis, bringing to light a new consequence of the coronavirus and racial injustice, major themes of the past year, showing that the pandemic accelerated a trend that was already in the works: The spread of opioid addiction from mostly rural, white communities to more urban, Black neighborhoods. The reporting placed this trend squarely in a history of drug addiction in America that has long discriminated against Black people, and described how even today, the best drug abuse treatment is more accessible to white people than to Black people. As one doctor put it, the soaring death rate from drug addiction has become a pressing civil rights issue. The story was sensitively told in text, photos and video, with poignant details, including one mother fearing her sonâs overdose death for so long that she paid for his funeral in monthly installments. The care taken in telling this story was rewarded with APâs second-highest reader engagement metrics of the day.https://aplink.news/ak7https://aplink.video/ce5https://aplink.photos/kgr
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
for their exclusive look into Turkeyâs role and influence in northern Syria, including the first visit by an international news agency to the Turkish-controlled town of al-Bab. https://yhoo.it/2Ku2rqC
for finding a woman just deported from the United States back to El Salvador, plunging her again into gang violence that had claimed two of her children. https://bit.ly/2uhWGWY
In a gripping exclusive that reads like the plot of a Hollywood film, Latin America correspondent Josh Goodman revealed the failed plot to oust Venezuelan President NicolĂĄs Maduro by a ragtag group of 300 volunteers led by a former U.S. Green Beret. The ill-conceived plan called for the group to invade Venezuela from Colombia and ignite a popular rebellion that would end in Maduroâs arrest.
The plot was uncovered and dismantled with barely a whisper, but a cryptic tip to the well-sourced Goodman planted the seed of the story. Over the next several months he reviewed documents and interviewed more than 30 Maduro opponents and aspiring freedom fighters with knowledge of the plot, piecing together the narrative with a strong assist from investigative researcher Randy Herschaft.
Goodmanâs story broke and reaction was strong: International media struggled to catch up and authorities in the U.S. and Colombia launched investigations. Senate Democrats have sent a letter to the Trump administration demanding answers.
For his impressive scoop on the failed coup that has been dubbed âThe Bay of Piglets,â Goodman and Herschaft win APâs Best of the Week award.
for breaking the news that a lawyer is trying again to get citizenship status for residents of American Samoa, whose residents have a different status than those in other U.S. territories. https://bit.ly/2ElMa3n
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.
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
for getting the news out of North Koreaâs attack on U.S. negotiators, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, ahead of the competition. https://bit.ly/2ubIa2R
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
for reporting on a North Dakota county that appeared set to become the first in the U.S. to vote against taking any new refugees after President Donald Trump issued an executive order giving them the power to do so. https://bit.ly/2ExyG6Z
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
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
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 breaking the news that North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum's travel was being audited, about a month after he was criticized for attending the Super Bowl as a guest of a utility operating in his state. https://trib.in/2GomtFe
for scoring an all-formats exclusive interview with a senior North Korea official amid high tension on the Korean peninsula. http://apne.ws/2ox5a6X
Ahead of the Olympics, an AP team in Rio wanted a close look at the city's slums, which have long been plagued with violence, to learn whether high-profile community policing programs are working in areas deemed `pacified.' Braving gunfire in what is considered a no-go area for reporters, AP produced up-close, all-formats coverage showing deadly violence continues to flare.
for healthy skepticism over a South Korean newspaperâs report of a major purge in North Korea. That saved AP from the embarrassment suffered by some other media as North Korean state media began showing images of the supposedly purged officials with leader Kim Jong Un. The Seoul bureau recognized the danger signs, producing a story that acknowledged the report while also sounding a note of caution. Several South Korean media outlets noted how AP emphasized the suspect nature of the initial report. https://bit.ly/2HYvGTN