Maria Verza, contractor reporter, Mexico City, and Enric Marti, news director for Mexico and Central America, for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how weekly newspaper Riodoce is continuing its work after its founder and publisher was gunned down in the street in broad daylight. http://wapo.st/2w2GNFV
teamed up to break the news that American journalist Danny Fenster was free from prison in Myanmar and heading home via Qatar.Former U.S. diplomat Bill Richardon had unexpectedly announced the release during a routine call, setting the AP, which had covered Fenster’s detention closely, in motion. Building on close contacts they’d nurtured with Richardson’s team, AP coordinated with its bureaus across continents to meet Fenster and Richardson en route to deliver visuals, video and text in advance of the competition.Bangkok reporter Grant Peck, alerted to the release by Southeast Asia news director Kiko Rosario,broke the news that Fenster was free and traveling with Richardson. Peck and Asian-Pacific correspondent David Rising anchored the fast-moving story, then Asia news director Adam Schreck worked with his Persian Gulf counterpart, Jon Gambrell, who arranged for a freelancer to get comments and visuals of Fenster in Qatar.The Asia team also coordinated with New York. where photographers Craig Ruttle and Seth Wenig captured images of Fenster’s arrival. Reporter Bobby Calvan, with video journalists Ted Shaffrey and Joe Frederick, then secured interviews with Fenster and Richardson after their news conference.https://aplink.news/d62https://aplink.news/5zghttps://aplink.video/21fhttps://aplink.video/7rx
for gaining access to a confidential European Aviation Safety Agency report detailing the extent of risks to passenger planes posed by competing air traffic controls on the ethnically divided island of Cyprus.http://abcn.ws/2g182XZ
for obtaining the most comprehensive state data so far to report that California marijuana and marijuana products are failing safety tests at a nearly 20 percent clip.https://bit.ly/2QPJYZ0https://bit.ly/2xDipcZ
for his piece on the state of student journalism around the country and how the problems of the newspaper industry are being mirrored on campuses across the country. But after some brutal years, there are signs of life: Enrollment in journalism programs is up. https://bit.ly/32Oyo5o
scrambled to provide timely coverage of Hurricane Sally. The storm was expected to hit Mississippi as a low-level hurricane, but at the last minute swung sharply to the east, forcing the AP team to regroup. Reeves and Herbert left Gulfport and hopscotched over Alabama to Pensacola, Florida. Wang stayed in Mobile while Plaisance moved from Louisiana to the Mississippi coast.Their flexibility meant unmatched coverage of the surprisingly strong storm. With the idea of getting photos to the wire fast, Herbert shot some pre-dawn pictures before the flooding could be assessed. When the sun rose, he stepped out of his hotel and took a series of photos that ended up defining the storm, the lead images on the apps for both the The New York Times and The Washington Post. Reeves gathered color to tell the stories of those impacted. Wang and Plaisance sent video that accounted for seven of the top 20 most used pieces of the week.https://bit.ly/32RAParhttps://bit.ly/2G578K3https://bit.ly/2RW4BVbhttps://bit.ly/3kzWSschttps://bit.ly/3hXvOS2https://bit.ly/33SW37c
took readers deep into the heart of conservative America, with an up-close, unflinching portrait of residents of a small town who reject caricatures that paint them as gun-toting extremists, despite their sometimes shocking views on the future of democracy.Read more.
for an investigation revealing that a dozen potentially lifesaving Transportation Department safety regulations have been sidelined in the Trump administration’s push to cut red tape. http://bit.ly/2HfgVbU
for detailing the confusion, chaos and fear inside the plane when a Southwest Airlines plane’s engine exploded, breaking a window and pulling one passenger halfway out the aircraft to her death. In other stories, they profiled the heroic pilot who landed the plane and broke news that the FAA would order inspections of engine fan blades like the one that caused the accident. https://bit.ly/2Kixp5z
definitively examined, from six continents and in all formats, the impact of climate change, merging the science behind a major — and sobering — United Nations report with the voices of people who are living it.Weeks before the Feb. 28 release, climate news director Peter Prengaman, reporters Seth Borenstein and Frank Jordans, both veterans of climate coverage, and Stockholm-based video journalist David Keyton brainstormed the plan, putting AP’s global footprint to use: Instead of just one big, all-formats story — the norm for previous reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — AP would use the report as a jumping-off point to explore the state of climate change from each continent. Read more
kept AP ahead of the competition throughout coverage of the first U.S. cruise ship to be struck by the coronavirus, repeatedly scoring exclusive photos and video from passengers stuck aboard the ship. After learning about the ship, Rodriguez began scouring social media looking for passengers and stayed in touch with them for several days, some of them becoming citizen reporters on the ship, sending regular updates, photos and video to AP.https://bit.ly/2TLsyADhttp://bit.ly/3aHzOCYhttp://bit.ly/39yMBYi
for capturing exclusive, dramatic visuals of lava spewing from the eruption of Kilauea in Hawaii. https://bit.ly/2s9yaFD
for breaking news on positive train control technology around the deadly crash of an Amtrak train south of Seattle. http://bit.ly/2qwoibn
After a New Jersey commuter train crashed into the Hoboken station, killing one woman and injuring more than 100 people, it became clear that there would be no quick answer to what caused the accident. But that didn’t stop East Social Media Editor Michael Sisak from wanting to know more about the deeper issues plaguing New Jersey Transit.
Sisak began diving into federal data and, working with New York-based freelancer Michael Balsamo and Newark reporter David Porter, discovered that the transit agency had paid more in fines for safety violations than any other commuter railroad in the country over the past five years. It also had a significantly higher accident rate than the rest of the nation’s 10 largest commuter railroads.
for accountability reporting that showed New Jersey Transit has paid more in fines for safety violations than any other commuter railroad in the country over the past five years. It also had a significantly higher accident rate than the rest of the nation’s 10 largest commuter railroads. http://apne.ws/2evTGA4
spent a chunk of Election Day documenting George Floyd’s brother in New York.With racial justice a central issue in the election, race and ethnicity reporter Morrison thought it fitting to tell a story through the lens of someone who lost a loved one to police violence. He had met Terrence Floyd, the younger sibling of George Floyd, in Minneapolis over the summer at the spot where a white police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes. Terrence, who lives in New York, agreed to let Morrison shadow him exclusively as he rode around the city in an SUV calling on a loudspeaker for people to vote, and later while waiting for election results at a watch party. At one point Terrence chanted “Don't forget to vote!” in rhythm with musicians outside a Brooklyn museum, a moment captured by Morrison, photographer Franklin and video journalist Shaffrey.https://bit.ly/38FgXe2https://bit.ly/3kqmQyb
As domestic production of oil has increased in recent years, Billings, Montana, Correspondent Matthew Brown closely followed derailments of trains carrying volatile crude. A train from North Dakota jumped the track, exploded and killed 47 people in Canada in 2013. In Brown’s own state, a derailment near the town of Culbertson spilled 27,000 gallons of oil in 2015. Last year, Brown reported that more than 800 potential safety violations were discovered on Union Pacific freight lines after a fiery June 2016 oil train derailment in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge.
But Brown wanted to know how widespread the problem really was. By pushing repeatedly for public records and working with a longtime source, Brown was able to exclusively report the results of a two-year federal inspection program for the nation’s oil trains – and he revealed that some safety defects uncovered where similar to ones blamed in derailments that triggered huge fires or oil spills in Oregon, Virginia, Montana and elsewhere. For his AP NewsBreak, Brown wins this week’s Best of the States award.
for a nuanced story of a community coming together to support their local newspaper, the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, in the year since a mass shooting killed five people at the paper. The paper’s surviving staff are recommitted to covering the community, using their craft to work through their trauma, while subscriptions have surged and random readers hug reporters on the job, Witte reported. https://bit.ly/2RPdkrw
When the Taliban overran Kabul on Aug. 15, no one in the city knew if the Taliban would resume the brutal practices that carried them to power in 1996 — or would they show some restraint?
Kabul video journalist Ahmad Seir and photographer Rahmat Gul remember the previous Taliban rule, but like their AP colleagues, they were determined to record history. The pair took to the streets. Despite being beaten with rifle butts at a Taliban checkpoint near the airport, they persisted, eventually gaining the trust of Taliban fighters at a checkpoint near AP’s office. Seir and Gul went on Taliban patrols, delivering unique video and photos of the militiamen now in command of Afghanistan.
Those rare images, along with spot features that included daily life in the capital and an interview with a female activist now in hiding, played at the very top of AP’s offerings for the week and reflected the tireless efforts of everyone in AP’s Kabul office who pushed aside their own fears and personal concerns to continue reporting in all formats.
For their historic and important work, thorough professionalism and unbound bravery, Seir and Gul share AP’s Best of the Week honors.
When a much-loved British journalist and an Indigenous expert disappeared in the remote reaches of Brazil’s western Amazon, AP excelled in all formats. The comprehensive coverage included widely used video packages, speedy, accurate reports on breaking news and insightful features — all setting AP apart.
From the announcement that Dom Phillips and Bruno Araújo 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 — 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 — First Winner honors.
