for exclusively getting the back story that boat modifications may have contributed to the capsizing of a fishing boat whose mixed nationality crew was saved through the actions of a young Vietnamese man who was the boatâs de facto captain, rather than the inexperienced American who was its captain of record. https://bit.ly/2GUuaim
launched APâs grant-funded year-long series on the pandemicâs impact on women in Africa's least developed nations with this ambitious multiformat project. They tell the uplifting story of the women fish processors of Bargny, Senegal, and their tale of survival amid the economic hardships imposed by the pandemic.The package exemplified the very best in AP all-formats storytelling: stunning visual journalism complementing the reporting and driving readers and viewers deeper into the story of the womenâs cooperative work to support a community through the toughest of times.The Dakar-based West Africa team of photographer Leo Correa, correspondent Carley Petesch and senior producer Yesica Fisch initially spent weeks working tirelessly to make contacts and gain the trust of the women as they waited for the fishing season to finally begin. Their reporting let the women's voices tell their story â and the visuals put you on the beach as they work laying out the catch, smoking the fish under smoldering peanut shells.Deep storytelling like this also took a team of editors and producers to make the work sing. Digital storytelling producer Nat Castañeda, deputy news director/U.S. South Janelle Cogan, Beirut-based producer Hend Kortam and chief photographer/Africa Jerome Delay collaborated across continents and were essential to the success of the package, delivering video edits, photo galleries, digital production and text tailored to meet client needs.Major European client France24's Journal d'Afrique editor wrote: âThe visuals of the Senegal story are among the best Iâve seen in recent years from one of the main agencies.âhttps://aplink.news/h5bhttps://aplink.photos/4zohttps://aplink.video/gj1
for following up on an earlier investigation and showing that Hawaii may have been breaking its own laws for years by allowing thousands of foreign workers to catch and sell seafood as part of the stateâs fishing industry, worth $110 million a year. https://www.apnews.com/c17b1543c8294a40902aeeff608...
Sometimes a story doesnât come from a reporterâs beat or region, just from natural journalistic curiosity.
Atlantaâs Jeff Martin was intrigued after investigators blamed the deadly tower fire in London in part on the flammable cladding that wrapped around its exterior. Wondering what buildings in the U.S. might be using the cladding, he went to the manufacturerâs website and found a trove of information in a promotional brochure.
The brochure said the cladding was used on a terminal at the Dallas airport, the Cleveland Browns stadium, an Alaska High School and a high-rise hotel in Baltimore. Martin, Gainesville, Florida, reporter Jason Dearen, and Baltimore reporter Juliet Linderman helped coordinate a cross-country, multi-media reporting effort that wins this weekâs Best of the States.
Houston newsman Frank Bajak headed to San Antonio with an overriding goal: Get an interview with a survivor of the immigrant-smuggling nightmare that claimed the lives of 10 people in the suffocating heat of a nearly sealed tractor-trailer.
The challenge was daunting. Survivors had been distributed among seven hospitals in the pre-dawn hours on the Sunday they were discovered in the truck outside a Walmart, with immigration and border patrol guards standing vigil outside their rooms.
Bajak's persistent, resourceful and ultimately successful effort to a secure that exclusive interview is recognized with this week's Best of the States prize.
for speed and resourcefulness that gave AP video and photos a clear win over the competition, providing live, distinctive close-up visuals of a commercial jet that skidded into a river from a military base runway. Replogle broadcast first agency live video from a unique vantage point on a residentâs dock, then he and McCullough secured a speedboat for an even closer look, again sending live video and exclusive stills. https://bit.ly/2JgrtfYhttps://bit.ly/2V7ekaEhttps://bit.ly/2PQtCj1
As tensions between Iran, its neighbors and the United States ratcheted up last week, APâs staff in Baghdad, Dubai and Tehran turned out aggressive, yet cautious coverage, bringing facts and unique perspectives to the tense and escalating situation in the Persian Gulf, often well ahead of the competition.
Those stories included reports of âsabotagedâ oil tankers off the coast of the UAE, and AP broke the news that Iran had quadrupled its uranium enrichment.
Meanwhile, APâs Tehran team produced an all-formats piece on the mood of people on the cityâs streets that could not be matched by competitors, and AP was first to report an FAA warning that Iran could misidentify commercial flights in the region.
AP was also aggressive on related developments, ensuring that clients had video and text coverage of tweets by President Donald Trump and Iranian officials.
For smart judgment, planning and effective use of APâs resources to break news and bring facts to a region on edge, the team of Jon Gambrell, Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Mehdi Fattahi, Bassem Mroue, Nasser Karimi and Vahid Salemi wins AP's Best of the Week, with the support of their colleagues and contributors in the region.
On the edge of America, the U.S. Census started in a tiny Alaska town on the Bering Sea. Toksook Bay, population 661, is only reachable by plane, and isnât an easy place to live, much less report. The temperatures hover around zero, and daylight is scarce this time of year.
After months of planning, Alaska news editor Mark Thiessen and San Diego photographer Greg Bull spent four days in the remote community, getting rare access to day-to-day life and an interview with the person who would be the first counted, 90-year-old Lizzie Chimiugak.
And when the Census director finally arrived, delayed by bad weather that kept many other news organizations away, Thiessen and Bull were able to quickly file the spot news that Census 2020 had begun.
For overcoming myriad technical obstacles and very cold fingers to cover the news in a far-flung part of the country, while also providing a window into a world unlike any other place in the U.S., Thiessen and Bull win this weekâs Best of the States award.
Joan Lowy, transportation reporter, Washington, D.C., and Emily Schmall, correspondent, Fort Worth, Texas, for scoring significant news beats after a hot air balloon caught fire, killing 16.
targeted 10 states that have quickly rising coronavirus infections, finding that the crucial turnaround time to get results from a coronavirus test is exceeding federal guidelines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guideline for results is less than two days.In the absence of federal data, Cassidyâs state-by-state reporting found typical turnaround times of three days from public labs, and longer lag times at commercial labs. Her story included a global perspective, noting the turn-around time is much faster in South Korea but much worse in some other countries, including South Africa. https://bit.ly/3ePogjw
delivered a unique story on the people directly affected by the high-stakes trade talks reaching a crescendo in Brussels. While competitive news organizations focused on the post-Brexit political wrangling, AP took an exclusive look at struggling French fishing crews and overwhelmed British truck drivers stuck in traffic jams at the English Channel. Thanks to years of source building in the region, the journalists were able to identify subjects that provided strong visuals, capturing the attention of AP clients and the public.https://bit.ly/382rj5Ghttps://bit.ly/3gQud1Fhttps://bit.ly/387pGnn
scored an exclusive interview with Dolly Parton who announced her new Super Bowl commercial.During the interview, Fekadu asked if she had gotten her Covid-19 vaccine, and Parton, who donated $1 million to coronavirus research, said she was waiting to get her vaccination shot because she didnât want to seem like she was âjumping the line,â a story that was picked up by the âTodayâ show, WebMD, People magazine, Yahoo! and many more. She rocked the commercial too. https://bit.ly/3d3E6Jk
From Afghanistan to Haiti, AP staffers and stringers on two sides of the world were challenged last week to cover fast-breaking news while keeping themselves and their families safe. They excelled at both; APâs coverage of Afghanistanâs fall to Taliban insurgents and the deadly earthquake across Haiti share Best of the Week honors.
In Afghanistan, with events unfolding at a breakneck pace, AP journalists amid the turmoil on the ground were complemented by colleagues in several countries and time zones collaborating to confirm the news and get it out.
AP sent out 17 alerts on Sunday alone, as city after city surrendered to the Taliban. And AP was among the first â perhaps the outright first â to report that President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country and Taliban forces were entering the capital.
That same weekend, when a powerful magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck southwestern Haiti leaving hundreds dead, AP journalists on the island scrambled to get to the area within hours. Editors outside Haiti jumped in to help gather and verify content, and a second team arrived in-country within a day to reinforce the coverage. AP stood out in all formats, including first live video of the disaster and photos that landed on front pages.
For outstanding breaking news coverage under extreme circumstances, the AP team in Afghanistan with their international colleagues, and the AP team covering Haiti â Pierre Luxama, Evens Sanon, Joseph Odelyn, Mark Stevenson, Fernando Llano, MatĂas Delacroix, Marko Alvarez and Fernando GonzĂĄlez â are co-winners of APâs Best of the Week award.
delivered two distinctive packages from Africa on vaccine hesitancy and gender inequality in the pandemic response on the continent â bolstering APâs strong record of reporting on global inequity during the coronavirus outbreak.Teamwork and deep reporting from Gambia resulted in a visually stunning package that revealed Africaâs women as being the least vaccinated population in the world and explained why, bringing readers and viewers into the womenâs lives.West Africa bureau chief Larson, senior producer Fisch and photographer Correa first focused on an oyster and fishing collective to better understand the womenâs precarious financial position and why that makes them hesitant to get vaccinated. The team also trekked into Gambiaâs interior, gaining the trust of a village chief who assembled his community to come talk to the AP about their fears and concerns around vaccination.The stunning package featured the womenâs own voices and striking portraits, underscoring the cultural pressures the women face and the power of misinformation. A sidebar by Cheng expanded on the international scale of the problem, reinforcing APâs commitment to covering global vaccine inequality as a major theme for 2021.Thousands of miles to the south, Zimbabwe stringer Mutsaka and photographer Mukwazhi worked relentlessly to build trust with one of Zimbabwe's leading churches, producing the first in-depth story from Africa on the role of the church in promoting vaccines. The Apostolic Christian Church has a strong distrust of modern medicine and is among the most skeptical churches in the country when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines.Mukwazhi and Mutsaka made contacts, including a church leader who was encouraging worshippers to get vaccinated, and the AP pair was permitted to cover an outdoor service where vaccinations were discussed, the congregants wrapped in white robes. The resulting all-formats package, compelling and sensitively reported, tenderly illustrated the dilemma confronting many Zimbabwean churches regarding COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.https://aplink.news/mrwhttps://aplink.news/oalhttps://aplink.news/dlrhttps://aplink.video/8nqhttps://aplink.photos/jnuhttps://aplink.news/oryhttps://aplink.video/2bp
When a much-loved British journalist and an Indigenous expert disappeared in the remote reaches of Brazilâs western Amazon, AP excelled in all formats. The comprehensive coverage included widely used video packages, speedy, accurate reports on breaking news and insightful features â all setting AP apart.
From the announcement that Dom Phillips and Bruno AraĂșjo Pereira were missing, AP mobilized to provide first agency photo and video coverage. AP had staff on the ground well before any other international media â and before federal police arrived to investigate.
As the story developed, regional expertise helped AP report accurately, avoiding the reporting mistakes of other media, and expand beyond the spot news with enterprising coverage, including profiles and an explainer, placing the tragedy in context.
For putting AP out front with fast, smart, best-in-class coverage, the AP team of Fabiano Maisonnave, Edmar Barros, Mauricio Savarese, Tatiana Pollastri, Rosa Ramirez, Silvia Izquierdo, Chris Gillette, David Biller and Peter Prengaman earns Best of the Week â First Winner honors.
delivered an all-formats package revealing a startling truth: U.S. law enforcement agencies have used a smartphone tracking tool called âFog Revealâ â made by a company that has no website or public information â to track peopleâs movements going back months, if not years, sometimes without search warrants.A tip to AP early this year launched the in-depth investigation of Fog Data Science, a company whose marketing materials said it drew from data generated by thousands of popular apps. Police have used the companyâs Fog Reveal to search hundreds of billions of records from some 250 million mobile devices, according to documents reviewed by AP.The exclusive package, with an engaging presentation of illustrations, video and photos, attracted a global audience online, in broadcast and in print.Read more
Michael Flynnâs ReAwaken America cross-country tour has attracted lots of media attention, but journalists trying to cover it have faced a hostile environment. So correspondent Michelle Smith and photographer Carolyn Kaster simply bought tickets to the tourâs stop in upstate New York.
The decision to go as attendees made all the difference: The two were fully engaged in Flynnâs world for two days, documenting an event at the heart of an ascendent Christian nationalist movement. And Washington colleague Richard Lardner added more reporting as he monitored the event on livestream.
The trioâs story, part of an AP investigation in partnership with PBS âFrontline,â detailed how Flynn and allies are using ReAwaken America to spread divisive rhetoric and conspiracy theories targeting democratic ideas and institutions while urging people to join and take action. The compelling all-formats coverage has won strong play and readership.For an up-close, insightful package on a far-right movement spearheaded by a former general close to Donald Trump, Smith, Kaster and Lardner earn APâs Best of the Week â First Winner honors.
broke the story of a proposal backed by leading U.S. corporations to hide key import data â 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 Goodmanâs attention to a group of 20 major companies seeking to keep vessel manifests, and thus sourcing, confidential.AP published Goodmanâs 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
took readers on deep dive into the Mediterranean to see how conservation efforts can revive once lifeless coastlines.Read more.
New York-based health and science reporter Mike Stobbe and Rome video journalist Trisha Thomas delivered two very different exclusives that stood out amid the weekâs impressive range of AP coronavirus coverage.
Stobbe was the first to report that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wanted to tell a wide swath of Americans that they shouldnât get on commercial flights because of the virus. But the agency was overruled by the White House. Instead, federal officials settled on softer, less direct language. Realizing the significance, Stobbe pressed multiple sources until he had confirmation of the White House action.
Meanwhile, continents away, Rome visual journalist Trisha Thomas was visiting Padua when she learned the Italian city was about to be locked down. After making frantic arrangements to leave by train, she turned her personal odyssey into a cross-format package, producing a first-person essay and video story that gave a human face to Italyâs virus emergency.https://bit.ly/2TUgQCohttps://bit.ly/2W6dxL8
