for being first to report that the Country Music Association Awards planned to restrict questions from the media related to politics, guns or the recent shooting at a country music festival in Las Vegas. http://bit.ly/2hWRHVD http://fxn.ws/2iGVGVP
for getting photos of prison inmates moving furniture at the New Jersey statehouse and defending press freedom. Corrections officers erroneously told Catalini such photos are illegal and ordered him to remove the images from his phone. Catalini stood his ground and saved the images in his deleted photos folder. After receiving a letter from an AP lawyer, officials conceded the officers were wrong. AP had already moved the images. https://apnews.com/348a45a1135843468642d420be093de...
for patiently working with a source to provide an exclusive look at how Dominion Energy, Virginiaâs biggest corporate campaign contributor, exerted its influence over members of both parties. http://bit.ly/2nT1MF7
scored yet another exclusive in his groundbreaking coverage of the death of Black motorist Ronald Greene in the custody of Louisiana state troopers, obtaining internal documents showing police brass still trying to blame Greeneâs death on a car crash, more than a year and a half after they were aware of body camera footage showing troopers brutalizing the unarmed man.The agency sought to reduce its liability in Greeneâs 2019 death despite footage showing troopers stunning, punching and dragging the unarmed man â and one trooperâs startling admission that he bashed him in the head with a flashlight, a use of deadly force not previously reported.Mustian's deeply reported story â which had APâs second-highest reader engagement for the week â showed in startling detail how everyone from top brass to troopers on the scene were involved in trying to cover up or downplay their roles in Greeneâs death. https://aplink.news/s7j
When a 19-year-old legislative intern reported that a state lawmaker in Idaho raped her, she almost immediately faced a campaign of harassment from right-wing groups in the state, and even from other state representatives, who publicized her identity against her will. A legislative panel then forced her to testify from behind a screen at an ethics hearing, after which she was followed and subjected to still further abuse by the accused lawmakerâs supporters.
The sordid story of the young womanâs ordeal was covered with sensitivity by Boise correspondent Rebecca Boone in a series of pieces that included an exclusive interview with the alleged victim, and it prompted a wider look by APâs State Government Team at allegations of sexual misconduct in statehouses around the country. That story, led by correspondent David Lieb and Report for America data journalist Camille Fassett, provided state-by-state details to AP customers and revealed public allegations against at least 109 state lawmakers in 40 states.
For aggressive yet respectful coverage that put one womanâs voice at the center of the story while providing distinctive national context, Boone, Lieb and Fassett share this weekâs Best of the States award.
delivered a distinctive accountability story, finding that U.S. governorsâ promises to produce personal protective gear domestically remain unfulfilled, despite tens of millions in taxpayer money to support the proposals.Missouri-based state government reporter Lieb identified at least $125 million in PPE production grants to more than 300 business in 10 states but found that most of the companies were leaving the business because they couldnât find buyers. Company executives told Lieb that production was again going overseas, potentially putting U.S. supplies of protective gear at risk in a future pandemic.Read more
After a prominent Philadelphia neurologist was charged with groping several patients at his clinic, Pennsylvania reporter Michael Rubinkam began digging into the neurologist's past to see if he had been accused of wrongdoing elsewhere.
Reviewing documents in three states, and checking with medical centers and law enforcement, he was able to determine that at least 17 women in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey have stepped forward to accuse Cruciani of sexual misconduct that goes back at least a dozen years. Two days after Rubinkamâs story ran, Cruciani pleaded guilty to groping seven patients.
For reporting exclusively that Cruciani has left behind a trail of sex abuse claims in at least three states, and obtaining powerful accounts of how he was able to prey on vulnerable patients, Rubinkam wins this weekâs Best of the States award.
An Islamic State cell notorious for beheading western hostages has become a major story line surrounding the terror group and its murderous onslaught in Syria. The arrest of members of the four-person cell â nicknamed âthe Beatlesâ because of their British accents â led to heightened interest among readers and AP clients.
So it was big news and a major scoop for the AP when an all-formats team made up of reporter Sarah El Deeb, video journalist Andrea Rosa and photographer Hussein Malla obtained the first interview of two men identified as surviving members of the infamous cell.
El Deeb had been working a source for access to foreign fighters detained by Kurdish forces in Syria. When AP finally received access, the detainees were at first reluctant to talk on the record. The Lebanon-based team kept pressing, and ultimately got them to agree to an audio interview, with photos. The interview generated huge interest and dominated headlines, particularly in Britain.
For pushing to make AP the first news organization to interview two suspects alleged to have participated in some of the Islamic Stateâs groupâs most notorious crimes, the team of El Deeb, Rosa and Malla share this weekâs Beat of the Week award.
for a quickly turned AP data analysis that found that the vast majority of people who will be affected by President Donald Trumpâs decision to end a key health insurance subsidy are in states he won. http://bit.ly/2gnjqB2
for working with newspapers and broadcast outlets in Washington state to file a lawsuit over access to legislative records. http://bit.ly/2fkqC0h
for keeping AP ahead over five furious days with details about the resolution of the state budget deadlock in Illinois, the nationâs longest since the Great Depression. http://abcn.ws/2ufuOBh
for following up the Trump administrationâs actions promoting the coal industry with a reality check story and a quickly turned enterprise piece about what the actions might mean for one coal town. The latter story prompted a tweet from the president. http://apne.ws/2oF2cS5 http://apne.ws/2oDzzVQ
leveraged years of source building and evenhanded reporting on opioid litigation in the U.S., securing rare access in all formats to an unprecedented federal court hearing in the most high-profile opioids case in the U.S.In the virtual hearing, people who had become addicted to opioids, and the parents of children lost to addiction, would finally confront members of the family that owned Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin. Mulvihill overcame federal court restrictions to get full access to the Zoom link for the hearing, and he leaned on his relationship with victimsâ attorneys to have a multiformat team at a law firm as victims made emotional statements to members of the Sackler family. Read more
With the continued weakening of state laws protecting womenâs rights to abortion in the U.S., the APâs strong coverage of abortion continues with two stories earning Best of the Week for impressive state accountability reporting and analysis.
A story that surfaced in Tennessee, finding federal dollars being spent on nonprofits aligned with the anti-abortion movement, revealed that legislatures in about a dozen U.S. states were funneling millions of taxpayer dollars to so-called crisis pregnancy centers that are typically unlicensed and have been accused of engaging in misinformation campaigns targeting pregnant women.
A second story focused on racial inequities in access to abortion, an idea sparked by an observation during a visit to the Shreveport, La., abortion clinic where almost every woman in the waiting room was Black. The all-formats package showed how minority women in states where abortion is under attack have the most to lose if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
Both stories drew strong play on AP News and customer platforms.
For revelatory state stories on two elements in the pitched national debate over abortion rights, Kruesi, Willingham, Wagster Pettus, Nasir, Solis and Lo earn APâs Best of the Week â First Winner honors.
Former President Donald Trumpâs refusal to concede the 2020 presidential election and his efforts to spread the false claim that widespread voter fraud cost him a second term raised a critical question: How much voter fraud occurred in the six crucial battleground states disputed by Trump?
Turns out, just 473 potential cases in those states. Many of the cases involved Republicans and virtually every case was an individual acting alone rather than coordinated fraud.
APâs finding was the result of an exhaustive investigation by a team of reporters, data journalists and others, based on detailed fact checks of the vote entries for every county in each of the six states. The investigation also led to an exceptionally rare recorded phone interview with the former president in which he repeated his unfounded conspiracy theories but could find no fault with APâs reporting.
The story made headlines and was widely cited. For meticulous reporting and analysis that revealed the actual attention-grabbing sliver of voter fraud cases, the team of Christina A. Cassidy, Scott Bauer, Bob Christie, David Eggert, Camille Fassett, Anthony Izaguirre, Shawn Marsh, Anna Nichols, Michelle Price, Ed White and Corey Williams is APâs Best of the Week â First Winner.
For years, marijuana arrests have put minorities in jail at a disproportionately higher rate than whites. Now that recreational marijuana is legal in eight states, the majority of those who benefit most from the profitable industry are white.
Reporters Janie Har, from the Associated Press Race & Ethnicity team, and Bob Salsberg, from the Massachusetts statehouse bureau, set out to explore this dichotomy and how local governments are responding to it.
For their compelling explanation of the cannabis racial divide, Har and Salsberg receive this weekâs $300 Best of the States award.
âDonât dismiss a [story] idea just because itâs unfamiliar. Pelvic exams arenât exactly in the wheelhouse of the State Government Team, but it turned out to be a really terrific and distinctive topic.â
Thatâs one editorâs takeaway from a story by Providence, Rhode Island, reporter Jennifer McDermott and Seattle medical writer Carla Johnson, both of whom, acting on a heads-up from New York photo editor Jenny Kane, found that itâs common practice for medical students to perform a pelvic exam on women under anesthesia as part of their training. Whether the patients have given consent for that exam is not clear, drawing the interest of state lawmakers.
The pair faced multiple obstacles in reporting the story, including initial reluctance by doctors and harried legislators to discuss the issue, but McDermott and Johnson succeeded in defining the conflict between medical schools and elected officials seeking to protect patient rights. Their efforts resulted in a unique story that received heavy play among major AP customers, both online and in print.
For their teamwork, execution and sensitive handling of a complex topic, McDermott, Johnson and Kane win APâs Best of the Week award.
for leading an AP review across 50 state capitols showing that even though women made historic gains in state legislatures in 2018, men still hold the vast majority of top leadership roles. https://bit.ly/2MIgafu
After the U.S. Supreme Court told states that juveniles who had been given mandatory life without parole sentences should get the chance to argue for their release, national writers Sharon Cohen and Adam Geller wanted to know how judges, prosecutors, lawmakers and parole boards were dealing with the inmates.
Aided by reporters in all 50 states, their exhaustive investigation showed for the first time that the high courtâs mandate in 2016 to give inmates a chance at freedom is being applied inconsistently, varying from state to state, even county to county, âin a pattern that can make justice seem arbitrary.â
The resulting three-day series featured deeply reported text stories, an expansive photo report of inmates from across the country, a 16-minute audio extra, a video animation on teen brain development, a video story, and a searchable trove of state-by-state details â all hosted in a dynamic hub on APNews.com.
Cohen and Gellerâs work wins this weekâs Beat of the Week prize.
A groundbreaking collaboration among California newspapers and The Associated Press started with a tweet.
Northern California News Editor Juliet Williams saw on Twitter that the editor of The Sacramento Bee, a McClatchy paper, was driving to meet with the editor of the Chico Enterprise-Record, a MediaNews paper, to talk about wildfire coverage. Williams reached out, offered the APâs help, and a partnership was born, with the goal of illuminating problems and pointing to potential solutions to Californiaâs increasingly deadly wildfires.
The results: nearly a dozen stories, including an analysis of data by McClatchy and AP Los Angeles-based data journalist Angeliki Kastanis revealing that more than 350,000 Californians live in towns and cities almost entirely within zones of very high wildfire risk. An analysis also found that a 2008 building code for Californiaâs fire-prone regions can make the difference in whether homes burn or not, but thereâs little retrofitting of older homes.
The partnershipâs next installment was focused on evacuation planning, revealing that many communities wouldnât share the information or didnât have an adequate plan, or any plan at all. Data analysis by USA TODAY Network-California showed many communities had too few roads to get everyone out.
We heavily publicized the package and play was impressive, with hundreds of downloads of the first two installments. Many outlets used the data to report their own stories about local fire risks. And this isnât the end of the partnership: The next phase will focus on legislative action on wildfire coverage.
When AP engages in collaborations like these we become more than just a content provider to our customers; weâre helping them produce high-impact local coverage that wouldnât exist otherwise. In this case, the âDestined to Burnâ partnership was managed at every level by West Deputy Director of Newsgathering Anna Jo Bratton, who worked for six months with people throughout the AP and the collaborators to make the partnership a success.
For putting the AP at the center of an important collaboration, driving important journalism in a state ravaged by wildfires, and forging a stronger relationship with members, Williams, Kastanis and Bratton win this APâs Best of the States.
