for using data obtained through records requests to show that the vast majority of sex assaults reported by many colleges take place off campus, areas in which the schools would no longer be obliged to investigate under an overhaul of campus sexual assault rules proposed by the Education Department. https://bit.ly/2U0sXwJ
In addressing its clergy sex abuse crisis, the Catholic church has touted a key reform: independent review boards with lay people.
But an exhaustive investigation by the AP team of Reese Dunklin, Matt Sedensky and Mitch Weiss methodically discredited that claim.
The reporters unearthed dozens of cases nationwide in which review boards rejected complaints from survivors, only to have them later validated by secular authorities. They also found that bishops stacked the boards with their own aides and attorneys. In a few cases, board members were themselves clergy accused of sexual misconduct.
The rock-solid reporting was brought alive by the storytelling, with revealing details down to the pink sweater one board member was knitting while listening to a survivorâs story of abuse.
For their comprehensive investigation into the Catholic churchâs deeply flawed system for addressing claims of abuse, Dunklin, Sedensky and Weiss earn this weekâs Best of the States award.
In western Alaska, rape survivors and their supporters say Nomeâs police department has often failed to investigate sexual assaults, especially when the victims are Alaska Native women.
Delivering sensitive-but-powerful coverage from a challenging environment, enterprise photographer Maye-E Wong and freelance correspondent Victoria Mckenzie tell the story of average Americans struggling with sexual violence and law enforcement in small communities. Their work made clear that Nomeâs struggles donât represent an isolated case; it is a microcosm of how police and towns and cities across the U.S. have failed survivors of sexual assaults.
For going to extremes â literally and figuratively â to shed light on a remote corner of the larger issue of sexual violence and enforcement, Wong and Mckenzie share this weekâs Best of the States award.
In the weeks after Jocelyn Geckerâs bombshell investigation detailing multiple sexual harassment allegations against Placido Domingo, competitors were out in full force, trying to produce their own stories about women who had encounters with the opera superstar.
But only the AP was able to advance the story, offering the accounts of an additional 11 women who said the legend had behaved inappropriately, including one who said on the record that Domingo insisted on kissing her and later forcefully grabbed her bare breast under her robe. In addition, backstage staff told the Jocelyns â APâs Gecker and Noveck â how they strove to keep young women from ever being alone with Domingo.
No one could match the pairâs reporting, which produced one of the most-read stories on APâs platform and formed the basis of stories by many other media outlets. Meanwhile, more opera companies announced they were canceling or reassessing their relationship with Domingo.
For remarkable source building and reporting that continued to give AP ownership of this highly competitive story, Gecker and Noveck earn this weekâs Best of the States award.
As allegations of sexual abuse by clergy have proliferated across the Catholic Church, millions of dollars in settlement money has been paid to victims. Some have received as much as $500,000 apiece.
Not La Jarvis D. Love.
At an IHOP in the Mississippi Delta, a white official from the Franciscan religious order offered to pay him just $15,000 to keep years of alleged abuse secret.
âHe said if I wanted more, I would have to get a lawyer and have my lawyer call his lawyer,â Love told The Associated Press. âWell, we donât have lawyers. We felt like we had to take what we could.â
The story, the latest in APâs investigation into abuse in the Catholic Church, revealed deals struck with two black men for abuse they said happened in grade school that represent far lower amounts than what other clergy abuse survivors have received. It also revealed the men had been asked to sign nondisclosure agreements, which had long been banned by U.S. Catholic leaders.
Despite the challenges, the team â investigative reporter Mike Rezendes, photographer Maye-E-Wong, video journalist Sarah Blake Morgan, digital storytelling producer Samantha Shotzbarger and researcher Randy Herschaft â produced extraordinary work. Herschaft discovered several critical threads that showed an alleged abuser was working with children even after the church had known about one of the menâs allegations.
For their sensitive work on a complex, emotional and previously untold story, the team of Rezendes, Morgan, Wong, Shotzbarger and Herschaft win this weekâs Best of the States.
Vatican correspondent Nicole Winfieldâs five-month investigation revealed the stunning allegations: A high-ranking Catholic priest had a sexual relationship with a Houston woman for more than a year, counseled her husband on their marital problems, pressed for hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from the couple and continued to hear her confession.
But the cardinal overseeing the churchâs handling of sexual abuse allegations in the United States approved the priestâs transfer to a church two hours away.
The fallout from Winfieldâs revelations was swift: The priest was suspended and church officials reopened their inquiry into the handling of parishioner Laura Pontikesâ accusations.
To tell the sensitive story, Winfield â and a team that included Raleigh-based national writer/video journalist Allen Breed, New York global enterprise photographer Wong Maye-E and Houston correspondent Nomaan Merchant â meticulously planned coverage in each format, including on-camera interviews with Pontikes and her husband, and photos and video of the cardinal and the accused priest.
For an investigation that cast doubt on a top church officialâs handling of a case involving startling allegations of abuse, Winfield, Breed, Wong and Merchant wins APâs Best of the Week award.
for breaking news that the U.S. government is opening a mass facility for migrant children in Texas and considering detaining hundreds more youth at three military bases, adding up to 3,000 beds to the overtaxed system. Acting on a tip from a key source, Burke left other news organizations scrambling, and she had details no one could match, including the number of beds planned for each new facility amid a wave of new arrivals, and context about the two deaths of children inside the system. https://bit.ly/2K8NJc4
for delving into the world of intersex children by winning the trust of a family to tell of their struggles and triumphs in raising two such children who share male and female traits. The all-formats package brought understanding of a condition unfamiliar to most people, and perhaps empathy for the familyâs children, as well as a conflicted father and a mother who wants to share her learned experience.https://bit.ly/2WJtKrahttps://bit.ly/2RgOmkC
for wrenching stories from survivors of sex abuse carried out by Boy Scout leaders. Changes in statute-of-limitation laws in various states have triggered a new wave of litigation against the Boy Scouts by men who said they were abused by unit leaders decades ago. What was missing from those stories were detailed accounts from abuse survivors â a gap filled by a powerful all-formats package that received tremendous play. https://bit.ly/2EU7ekq
for months of covering the Ohio State sexual misconduct scandal and extensive background preparation that put AP in front when the universityâs report on the misconduct was released. It showed at least 177 athletes had been abused by a now-dead team doctor, from the 1970s through the 1990s. https://bit.ly/2wmLZ6l
for an exclusive story revealing that a county welfare agency had been using illegal custody agreements for years to remove children from parents under duress and sometimes without cause. https://bit.ly/2GgTpyr
for back-to-back Vatican sex abuse scoops, reporting exclusively on a confidential Vatican letter to U.S. bishops about proposed responses to the scandal, and exclusive Vatican confirmation that an Argentine bishop hand-picked by the pope for a top Holy See job was under investigation for sexual misconduct.https://bit.ly/2D2ELsihttps://bit.ly/2RFk1Pi
for breaking the story of how a Texas town was given a federal contract to operate a controversial family detention and in turn gave a hefty management contract to a private prison company, retaining a portion of the money for itself. https://bit.ly/2JjTkJx
for obtaining a 2,000-plus page forensic study commissioned by Pope Francis of the legal case against Argentinaâs most notorious convicted predator priest that concluded he was innocent, that his victims were lying and that the case never should have gone to trial. https://bit.ly/2xJNGen
for a comprehensive, all-format report that found the Chinese government is building at least 45 orphanages for the children of Muslim detainees and exiles, the latest example of China systematically distancing young Muslims from their families and culture. https://bit.ly/2OU4Tszhttps://bit.ly/2OQu53bhttps://bit.ly/2ptmXP7https://bit.ly/2OTsZDM
for being first with the news from a law enforcement source that New Yorkâs attorney general had subpoenaed all eight of the stateâs Roman Catholic dioceses in a new investigation into the handling of clergy sex abuse allegations. https://bit.ly/2NFkiQmhttps://bit.ly/2x9iTr3
for scoring a cross-format scoop by being first to report that a conservative Italian journalist helped rewrite and edit the bombshell accusation of sex abuse cover-up against Pope Francis. https://abcn.ws/2Cty83F
Christopher Sherman, newsperson, Mexico City; Arnulfo Franco, photographer, Panama City, and Gerardo Carrillo, videojournalist, Mexico City, for detailing abuses by Nicaraguan security forces against protesters, including a young woman arrested without charges and beaten until she lost her pregnancy. https://bit.ly/2Mjws1s
for breaking the news that Los Angeles police are actively investigating one of Stan Leeâs former advisers for allegations of elder abuse of the Marvel Comics legend. https://lat.ms/2lp2id3
Last May, as Reese Dunklin and Justin Pritchard sifted through readers' email responses to AP's 2017 investigation into schoolhouse sex assault, both reporters flagged the same messages for follow-up: The tips described problems with the handling of sex assaults reported on U.S. military bases among the children and teens of service members.
Through dozens of FOIA requests and interviews, they found that reports of sexual assaults and rapes among military kids were getting lost in a dead zone of justice, with neither victim nor offender receiving help. Cases often died on the desks of prosecutors, even when an attacker confessed. And criminal investigators shelved other cases, despite requirements they be pursued, the reporters found.
Using government records and data released by the Pentagonâs military branches and school system, Dunklin and Pritchard catalogued nearly 600 cases of sex assaults among children on military bases, often after protracted FOIA negotiations. Though an acknowledged undercount, it was the first such quantification â something neither the Pentagon nor its global school system had previously done.
For shedding light on a problem too long ignored, and localizing it for AP members in their states, Dunklin and Pritchard share this weekâs Best of the States award.
