In early spring, Jennifer McDermott knew offshore wind turbine pieces would depart Europe for New Bedford — and that the ship steaming in would be the visual representation of the arrival of the offshore wind industry in the U.S.
So in the weeks preceding, she went to an event where she could meet the energy company CEO and Chamber of Commerce at the marine terminal. She pressed for exclusive AP access to the ship arrival instead of the planned press conference the following day, and for permission to fly a drone. She tracked the ship’s arrival using an online vessel tracker, with the date of the arrival constantly in flux.
Video journalist Rodrique Ngowi, who had long wanted to work on this story, paired with Jennifer to tell the story. The team walked a half a mile out onto a hurricane barrier where Jennifer had made sure the mayor and company CEO would meet them for interviews. Rodrique and Jennifer worked together as he flew a drone and shot footage of the ship pulling in, and they took turns asking questions for the video.