The March on Washington team, drawing reporters from the Religion, Race and Ethnicity and Democracy beat teams, executed perfectly to put together a remarkable package for the 60th Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Planning had begun months earlier with conversations among Jack Auresto, Pablo Monsivais, Ron Vample and Gary Fields in Washington and then-Race and Ethnicity editor Andale Gross.
Stories began with Religion, and David Crary linking the role of religious leaders between the eras, followed by an overview by Aaron Morrison in New York which captured the complexities of that first march and the environment now for civil rights leaders. A sidebar to that story was by democracy reporter Gary Fields on the “I Have a Dream” speech. From the White House, Darlene Superville added a story about the King family and civil rights leaders meeting with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on the actual anniversary, Aug. 28. Patrick Sison in New York and Jennifer Kane, a D.C. photo editor, pulled in exclusive archival images from AP.
D.C. videographer Nathan Ellgren provided video and text for voices from the memorials. Photographers, videographers and producers from across the company, including Noreen Nasir, Cody Jackson, Jacquelyn Martin, Andrew Harnik, Rick Gentilo, Dan Huff, Scott Applewhite, Arijeta Lajka, Summer Xi, Michael Pesoli and Jack Auresto shot and/or produced videos of several luminaries who spoke to the AP — including Ambassador Andrew Young, Martin Luther King III, Bernice King, Rev. Al Sharpton and U.S. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton.
The day of the march, Democracy team members Nick Riccardi and Dart Clark wrote and edited while their fellow team member Ayanna Alexander joined Morrison and Fields on the National Mall. Smith and Harnik provided visual reporting, along with Xia. Others in the mix included Bob Furlow, who edited the main bar. Radio correspondent Julie Walker provided audio reporting out of the march commemoration.
On APNews.com alone, the videos collectively garnered nearly 5,000 views, with the best performer being AP’s interview with Bernice King. The text stories garnered over 200,000 page views on the site, with coverage of the commemorative march as the best performing content.