AP staff across Europe teamed up to provide fast and effective coverage of a June 25 mass shooting during an LGBTQ Pride festival in Oslo, Norway, that left two people dead and more than 20 wounded.
When the news broke in the middle of the night that a gunman had opened fire in the Norwegian capital, quick decision-making, a rapid response and even a bit of luck enabled AP to cover the story in all formats, with tremendous play.
Northern Europe News Director Karl Ritter, who was covering the G7 meeting in southern Germany, saw reports of a mass shooting at 4 a.m. and jumped into action, getting an alert out and asking Europe News Director James Jordan to help deploy staff to Oslo from other bureaus. London video and photo editors moved content from Norwegian partners, as well as user-generated content, while Moscow photographer Sergei Grits and video journalist Kostya Manekov hurried to Oslo from their base in Estonia. The pair hit the ground running with strong visual coverage of the aftermath of the shooting.
People embrace at a memorial in central, Oslo, Norway, June 25, 2022, at the scene of a mass shooting that left two people dead and more than 20 wounded overnight during the capital’s annual Pride festival.
AP Photos / Sergei Grits
Estonia-based freelancer Jari Tanner assisted remotely with text coverage and translations of Norwegian police news conferences for video storylines, while Top Stories Director Maria Sanminiatelli, who by chance was just arriving in Oslo on vacation, jumped in to help both text and video with crucial sound bites and color from the scene.
As a result of this team response to a breaking story, AP produced a fast and comprehensive all-formats report that was widely used by clients worldwide.