Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

The AP Interview breaks news with General Motors CEO Barra

broke local, global and financial news by tapping AP’s broad reach and deep expertise to make the most of a rare interview with one of the business world’s most powerful executives: General Motors CEO Mary Barra.After securing the all-formats sit-down, veteran auto writer Krisher and the Business News team reached out to colleagues across departments and across the globe, as well as industry experts, to craft an interview plan that was sure to deliver news. Among the nuggets from the wide-ranging interview: Barra’s bold prediction to sell more electric vehicles than Tesla in just a few years, and her commitment to keep GM’s headquarters in downtown Detroit.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP team answers reader questions around possible US recession

responded to a spike in reader queries around the term “recession” with a suite of stories published over successive days, with the goal of familiarizing readers with the economic data and conversations dominating the news.The stories ranged from a primer on economic reports to practical tips for day-to-day “recession proofing,” but perhaps most essential was a comprehensive explainer on recessions, a term that was rapidly becoming politicized. AP explained that a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization analyzes multiple factors to declare a recession.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Sweeping coverage puts AP ahead on Musk’s first week at Twitter

teamed up with a cast of AP colleagues to deliver scoop after scoop on Elon Musk’s tumultuous first week at Twitter. AP prevailed by placing a premium on one defining element of the storyline: How the platform is changing and how that affects regular people and their discourse on the platform.After Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion, the Technology team knew that the first week would be critical to determining what the celebrity CEO intended for the platform. As the company veered into uncharted territory, the journalists worked sources, aggressively but responsibly reporting what AP could see and confirm, ensuring reliable, fact-based coverage.From the chaotic layoffs to the fire sale on blue check marks to a sweeping look at Musk’s debut as Twitter CEO, the AP team broke news, setting the standard for coverage of the social media giant.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Future of work: Why the explosive growth of e-commerce could mean more jobs, not fewer

for finding that, contrary to conventional wisdom, increasingly automated e-commerce warehouses are creating rather than killing jobs. http://bit.ly/2zTb34l

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Only on AP: Email reveals cozier relationship between payday lenders and regulator

for an Only on AP story: An email revealed that the former CEO of a payday lending company investigated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was seeking the top job at the watchdog agency, indicating a friendlier relationship between the industry and its regulator. http://bit.ly/2H7MILR

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP Exclusive: Federal watchdog agency halts enforcement actions under Trump

for reporting exclusively that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had halted enforcement actions in the months since the Trump administration took control of the agency. https://bit.ly/2H80X70

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP first to report Mulvaney dissolving consumer watchdog advisory board

for revealing that Mick Mulvaney, interim head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, dissolved a group of outside experts meant to act as a sounding board for the agency as it protects consumers from abuses by financial institutions. https://bit.ly/2MtIstE

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Brazilian consul: Arrested ex-Nissan chair Ghosn is healthy, wants thrillers

for the first on-camera interview with the Brazilian consul general, one of few people to meet with former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn, who was arrested over suspicion of underreporting millions in income. Ghosn, once one of the most powerful men in the business world, was reportedly holding up well during his detention in Japan, and was asking for thrillers to read. https://bit.ly/2QMhP8l

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Stories of women, minorities on the front lines

used census data from the 100 largest U.S. cities as a starting point for a series of vivid portraits of the workers living and dying on the front lines of the pandemic – most are women, people of color and more likely to be immigrants. https://bit.ly/2W8DHfX

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP sources: Ukrainian grain shipments won’t solve food crisis

combined on-the-ground reporting, key analysis from experts and their own subject expertise to shed light on the real-world impact and limitations of renewed Ukrainian grain exports on the global food crisis.The team’s reporting reveals how everyone from Lebanese farmers and Syrian refugees to African aid groups don’t expect the much-publicized initial shipments to solve food insecurity as millions go hungry. The story builds on months of AP coverage showing how the Russia-Ukraine war has worsened the effects of drought, inflation, conflict and other factors in countries gripped by hunger.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

US, EU, Japan and others mount joint effort to pressure China on food import rules

for landing a scoop about an effort by a broad group including the 28-nation European Union, the United States, Japan, Australia, Argentina, Israel and four other countries to pressure China to scale back plans for intensive inspections of imports that they say would hamper access to its fast-growing market. http://on-ajc.com/2skMfTt

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP: Expanding Gulf Coast gas exports raise residents’ concerns

led an AP team producing a visually rich, deeply reported package examining a vast expansion of natural gas facilities in coastal Southwest Louisiana that is escalating greenhouse gas emissions, raising global temperatures, fueling extreme weather and imperiling communities.Reporting from coastal Southwest Louisiana, energy reporter Bussewitz and national multiformat journalist Irvine captured the lives of families hurt by extreme weather linked to a build-out of liquefied natural gas export terminals. But the two went further: They depicted an urgent concern: Where once it looked as if the nation might soon shift away from fossil fuel industries, a reversal has occurred. The U.S. has become the world’s largest exporter of LNG, with worrisome consequences for Gulf Coast residents and the planet’s climate.A few news organizations, mostly local or niche environmental publications, have reported previously on this issue, but none have had the depth and range of AP's package, with its data, visuals and reporting on human impact.Read more

Best of the States

AP examines troubling trend of women dropping out of the workforce

As parents scramble to manage their own work and their kids’ remote learning during the pandemic, AP business reporters Alexandra Olson and Cathy Bussewitz wanted to know how that shift impacted the careers of mothers and fathers. 

They dug into the data, finding that in order to tend to their children, working mothers were giving up their careers more so than working fathers. And they tapped into parenting networks to find families in this situation. What emerged was evidence of a trend that threatens decades of hard-fought gains by working women, who are still far from achieving labor force parity with men.

For timely reporting that documents a disturbing social and economic trend brought on by the pandemic, Olson and Bussewitz win this week’s Best of the States award.

Best of the States

APNewsBreak: Au pairs win $65.5M in suit over US pay

The Au Pair cultural exchange program provides U.S. families with low-cost child care, but former au pairs said they were also asked to feed chickens, help families move and do gardening – all while working at below minimum wage. That prompted a judge to grant class-action status to 11 former au pairs last February and drew the attention of Denver breaking news staffer Colleen Slevin, who spent the next 11 months learning all about the world of au pairs and conducting interviews, such as one with a former au pair who said she felt like a slave.

Slevin also built a relationship with the attorneys for the au pairs and negotiated with them for exclusive notice when the $65.5 million settlement was filed last week.

The result was an APNewsBreak on the settlement that went unmatched for hours and received play around the world.

For her perseverance in building sources and tracking a story of international interest while covering breaking news over a three-state region, Slevin wins the week’s Best of the States award.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP Exclusive: Gov’t questions unfair student loan practices

for obtaining an Education Department document showing that student loan servicer Navient put borrowers in costly repayment plans without telling them about potentially less expensive options. The exclusive was picked up in several newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and made the front page of the New York Daily News. Navient’s stock fell more than 10 percent after Ken’s story was published, forcing the CEO to issue a letter to shareholders. One analyst firm, ValuAct, downgraded the stock following the story. https://bit.ly/2KmOnQv

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Papa John's to remove founder as the face of its marketing

for being first to report that Papa John's would be pulling founder John Schnatter's image from its marketing materials following reports he used a racial slur. https://bit.ly/2A2Fc6v

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Banker tells AP an alarming tale of Latvian corruption

for reporting exclusively that a top European bank official arrested in Latvia was involved in bribing local bank officials and money-laundering, with ties to Russia. http://bit.ly/2CSMqpz

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP gives voice to Ohioans leaving homes for semiconductor plant

delivered an all-formats package weaving together the personal, political and economic implications of a planned $20 billion Intel semiconductor manufacturing complex in rural Johnstown, Ohio, where homes are being demolished to make way for the project that will bring jobs to the “Silicon Heartland.”Knowing that customers look to the AP for this kind of business enterprise story, the journalists set out to illustrate the changing landscape around the project, literally and figuratively, as two Intel factories are expected to open in 2025 on the nearly 1,000-acre site. Framing the coverage, the team interviewed the extended family of 85-year-old Tressie Corsi at her longtime home, grounding the all-formats package in the lives of those most directly affected by the Intel project.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP: Proposal to hide import data would shield labor abuses

broke the story of a proposal backed by leading U.S. corporations to hide key import data — data vitally important to researchers and investigative journalists seeking to hold corporations accountable for the mistreatment of workers in their overseas supply chains. A tip from an industry source brought Goodman’s attention to a group of 20 major companies seeking to keep vessel manifests, and thus sourcing, confidential.AP published Goodman’s scoop as the corporate group pitched its proposal behind closed doors in Washington. The piece prompted an outcry from members of Congress and groups advocating for responsible sourcing and greater transparency in global supply chains.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Auto reporter uncovers government accusations against American air bag maker

for uncovering the government's mounting complaints against ARC Automotive Inc. He discovered the scoop while digging through routine filings by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; they detailed the company's stonewalling and refusal to cooperate with a U.S. investigation into a fatal air bag death that could affect 8 million other cars. http://apne.ws/2en0EIO