They are crises that have received significant attention and while playing out in different parts of the world, but the efforts of a trio of AP journalists have shed new light on both the perilous journey of migrants in the Mediterranean and the opioid epidemic in America.
The work of the journalists, Renata Brito aboard the Ocean Viking humanitarian ship sailing in the Mediterranean Sea, and Lindsay Whitehurst and Claire Galofaro in the U.S., tells the respective stories with such captivating clarity that they earned a rare tie in the Best of the Week contest. Each story demonstrated the profound storytelling power the AP can bring to complex stories with ingenuity, smart planning and teamwork.
Barcelona-based Brito wins for a story that she’s still living, and telling, from the Ocean Viking. Embedded with a ship that last week rescued 50 migrants fleeing violence in Africa, Brito continues filing photos, video and text that have resonated with audiences. Her dispatch, “Migrant escaping Libya torture: We will go to Europe or die,” showed in stark terms the journey that for many has ended in death. She focused on Mouctar Diallo, a Guinean man who’s been stabbed, shot and endured other violence trying to make it to Europe – and who was rescued by the Ocean Viking on his 28th birthday.
Brito, who is staying in a cabin and sending her dispatches amid occasionally rough seas and slow Wi-Fi, has scored other personal stories, including the successful evacuation of a pregnant woman and Italy’s decision to take 41 migrants rescued by the humanitarian vessel. The voyage benefited from good timing: When Italy’s government collapsed, Brito and editors in Europe realized that embedding on the Ocean Viking would likely mean it would be the first humanitarian ship to try to dock in Italy under the new government. The stories have provided a human side to the story that often goes missing in coverage that relies on handouts and information from authorities, and conveyed the suffering that migrants endure at the hands of traffickers in Libya.
A person is transferred onto a rescue boat some 14 nautical miles from the coast of Libya in Mediterranean Sea, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2019. Humanitarian groups SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders have successfully rescued 50 migrants and brought them aboard the Ocean Viking.
AP Photo / Renata Brito
A migrant waves his hand in the air from rubber boat about 14 nautical miles from the coast of Libya in Mediterranean Sea, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2019. In all, 50 migrants were rescued and brought them aboard the Ocean Viking, a Norwegian-flagged ship jointly operated by humanitarian groups SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders.
AP Photo / Renata Brito
Migrants in a rubber boat, right, wait to be rescued by humanitarian teams some 14 nautical miles from the coast of Libya in Mediterranean Sea, Sept. 8, 2019.
AP Photo / Renata Brito
Mouctar Diallo, from Guinea, looks out from aboard the Ocean Viking humanitarian rescue ship in the Mediterranean Sea, Sept. 13, 2019. Diallo was rescued at sea on Sept. 8, his birthday, by the Ocean Viking in his fifth attempt to reach Europe from Libya.
AP Photo / Renata Brito
Sitting aboard the Ocean Viking humanitarian rescue ship in the Mediterranean Sea, Sept. 13, 2019, Mouctar Diallo, from Guinea, points at a scar on his leg that he says is from a bullet wound suffered in Libya. Diallo was rescued at sea by the Ocean Viking in his fifth attempt to reach Europe from Libya.
AP Photo / Renata Brito
Rescued migrants get their hair shaved aboard the Ocean Viking humanitarian ship in the Mediterranean Sea, Sept. 12, 2019.
AP Photo / Renata Brito
A rescued migrant from Egypt looks out at the horizon from the Ocean Viking in the Mediterranean Sea near the island of Lampedusa, Italy, Sept. 14, 2019. Italy allowed the humanitarian rescue ship to sail to the tiny southern island so that dozens of migrants aboard could be transferred to shore.
AP Photo / Renata Brito
A man dances as another plays the drums aboard the Ocean Viking humanitarian ship in the Mediterranean Sea, Sept. 12, 2019, as 82 rescued migrants waited for a European country to give them permission to disembark.
AP Photo / Renata Brito
A migrant aboard the Ocean Viking humanitarian ship in the Mediterranean Sea points at a map of Europe, Sept. 14, 2019. The rescue ship with 82 migrants aboard said it had received permission to dock at the tiny Sicilian island of Lampedusa, southern Italy.
AP Photo / Renata Brito
Migrants chat together aboard the Ocean Viking humanitarian ship in the Mediterranean Sea, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019. The rescue boat with 82 migrants aboard said it had permission to dock at the tiny Sicilian island of Lampedusa, southern Italy.
AP Photo / Renata Brito
Rescued migrants wait to disembark from the Ocean Viking humanitarian vessel at the island of Lampedusa, Italy, Sept. 14, 2019. Italy allowed the rescue ship to sail to the tiny southern island so that dozens of migrants aboard could be transferred to shore, but Italt’s foreign minister cautioned against interpreting the move as a sign that the new government is easing a crackdown on humanitarian ships.
AP Photo / Renata Brito
Renata Brito’s coverage featured prominently in Italian media.
AP
Filing under difficult conditions has meant photo and text colleagues in Rome have been receiving her dispatches, often late at night, and getting them to customers. Athens newsperson Derek Gatopoulos created social media promos and a hub for her work, while Brito’s video has been fed to London.
A video profile of migrants on the ship got nearly 800 broadcast hits, including from top European outlets like Spain's TVE, Italy's RAI, France 24 and Euronews. Her photos have been showcased by numerous Italian newspapers, including La Repubblica, Corriere Della Sera, La Stampa and Il Messaggero.
Galofaro and Whitehurst, meanwhile, share the week’s honors with a very different but no-less-gripping tale: “The rise and fall of an Eagle Scout’s deadly fentanyl empire,” about a millennial who built a mail-order empire of fentanyl-laced pills that made him a millionaire.
Tova Keblish, right, hugs Kelli Anderson Young outside the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City after a jury verdict against Aaron Shamo, Aug. 30, 2019. Prosecutors have said Shamo’s online drug ring could be linked to the deaths of dozens of customers who have overdosed, and some of their family members, including Keblish, who traveled from New York, attended the trial. Her son Gavin Keblish died after he had surgery and purchased counterfeit, fentanyl-laced oxycodone from Shamo’s online store, she said.
AP Photo / Rick Bowmer
Tova Keblish, center, speaks with a reporter outside the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City after a jury verdict against Aaron Shamo, Aug. 30, 2019. The verdict was emotional for Keblish. whose son Gavin Keblish died after he had surgery and purchased counterfeit, fentanyl-laced oxycodone from Shamo’s online store, she said.
AP Photo / Rick Bowmer
A pill press found in the home of Aaron Shamo is shown in an undated evidence photo provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Utah. Shamo was convicted of running a multimillion-dollar fentanyl trafficking empire from his basement in suburban Salt Lake City.
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Utah, via AP
Becky and Mike Shamo, the parents of Aaron Shamo, walk with defense attorney Greg Skordas, right, outside the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City, Aug. 30, 2019. After deliberating less than a day, a jury convicted Utah resident Aaron Shamo of running a multimillion-dollar opioid ring that sent hundreds of thousands of potentially deadly pills across the country in a scheme that authorities said helped fuel the nation’s opioid epidemic. “He’s 29 and his life is over,” Skordas said after the verdict was read.
AP Photo / Rick Bowmer
Rod Meldrum holds a portrait of his son, Devin Meldrum, in Provo, Utah, Sept. 9, 2019. Devin Meldrum suffered from debilitating cluster headaches and fatally overdosed after taking a single fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pill purchased from a dark-web store run by Aaron Shamo, according to his family and authorities. Shamo, convicted of running a multimillion-dollar drug ring, was not charged in Meldrum’s death; his lawyers have argued that overdoses by Meldrum and others can’t be definitively linked to Shamo.
AP Photo / Rick Bowmer
Drew Crandall, left, a Utah man who prosecutors call the second-in-command of a multimillion-dollar online opioid drug ring, says it started with selling Adderall to pay for student loans. Crandall testified, Aug. 15, 2019, that he packaged and mailed drugs as he and his roommate Aaron Shamo, expanded to selling date-rape drugs, ecstasy, Xanax and more. Sean Gygi, right, leaves the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City after testifying, Aug. 12, 2019. Gygi, who pleaded guilty to being Shamo’s “runner,” had agreed to wear a wire while he picked up packages of fentanyl pills.
FROM LEFT: UNDATED Tooele County Sheriff’s Office photo via AP; AP PHOTO / RICK BOWMER
Money found in Aaron Shamo's home is shown in an undated evidence photo provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Utah. Shamo was convicted of running a multimillion-dollar fentanyl trafficking empire from his basement in suburban Salt Lake City in a case that offers an unprecedented window into how fentanyl bought and sold online has transformed the global drug trade.
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Utah, via AP
Fentanyl-laced fake oxycodone pills are shown in an undated evidence photo provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Utah, as part of the Aaron Shamo drug-trafficking trial.
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Utah, via AP
Prosecutors linked several deaths to Aaron Shamo’s operation, which sold counterfeit oxycodone pills. In just one day of cooperation from one of Shamo’s collaborators, authorities intercepted packages with nearly 35,000 fentanyl pills destined for homes in 26 states. That was in 2016, and as the story noted, the fentanyl trade has only grown larger, with drug cartels entering the market while smaller operations like Shamo’s continue to set up shop.
Aaron Michael Shamo is shown in a booking photo provided by the Weber County (Utah) Sheriff’s Office. Shamo, a clean-cut, 29-year-old college dropout and Eagle Scout, made himself a millionaire by building a fentanyl-trafficking empire with not much more than his computer and the help of a few friends.
Weber County Sheriff’s Office via AP
Their story was the result of close teamwork on a story that Whitehurst first pitched in 2017. Galofaro brought her knowledge of the overall opioid crisis and its global impact to the story, sitting in on the start of Shamo’s trial. From there, Whitehurst followed the trial and worked sources, including Shamo’s father, to provide details like Shamo’s Eagle Scout rank. Whitehurst juggled the demands of daily trial coverage and developed strong relationships with both prosecutors and the defense team. Photographer Rick Bowmer spent hours outside the courtroom catching key players headed into the trial, and shot portraits of the parents of one man who is believed to have overdosed on pills purchased from Shamo’s site.
As Whitehurst noted, the collaboration with Galofaro was key: “Claire’s deep expertise on the opioid crisis, background as a federal court reporter and immense writing talent, combined with my years of sourcing and coverage of this case, came together to create something really compelling.” The story was among the AP’s most-read over the weekend, engaging readers with its mix of courtroom reporting, human consequences and broad perspective on the opioid crisis that is rapidly expanding beyond the U.S.
For telling stories that brought new insight and perspective to heavily covered stories that have significant global impact, Brito, Galofaro and Whitehurst win AP’s Best of the Week honors.