Best of the Week — First Winner

Blockbuster AP scoop reveals shelving of CDC guidelines on safe reopening

For weeks, critics had complained that the Trump administration was putting political concerns ahead of scientific recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control.

A blockbuster AP scoop amplified those complaints: Reporters Jason Dearen and Mike Stobbe worked sources to reveal that President Donald Trump’s administration shelved the CDC’s guidelines containing step-by-step advice to authorities on how and when to reopen businesses and other public places during the pandemic.

The story dominated news media and was by far the best-performing story on AP News for the week. And in a follow-up exclusive, Dearen reported on documents showing the decision to withhold came from the highest levels of the White House, and that the Trump administration ordered key parts of the CDC guidelines fast-tracked for approval after the AP’s story appeared.

For a major scoop that resonated among customers and readers and finally brought to light the scientists’ suppressed guidelines for how the country should reopen, Dearen and Stobbe win AP’s Best of The Week award.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP: Chinese company claims it tested vaccine on employees

revealed that in the global race to find a COVID-19 vaccine, SinoPharm, a state-owned Chinese company, claimed it gave experimental shots to top pharma executives and employees, raising ethical concerns. The all-formats coverage examining the ethics of researchers testing vaccines and remedies on themselves was a global effort, with contributions from AP journalists in China, the U.S., Indonesia and Russia. The story appeared on more than 500 online sites, and the package received more than 100,000 page views on AP News. https://bit.ly/3htDPOG

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

All-formats team leads coverage of violent Belgrade protests

delivered dominant coverage as Serbia witnessed its most aggressive anti-government protests in years, triggered by new lockdown restrictions in response to a spike in coronavirus cases. Through three days and nights of protests and rioting, AP outdistanced its nearest competition in all formats and at virtually every turn. Visual coverage particularly stood out, with photos and video getting strong play. On both Wednesday and Friday of the protests AP was not only first with video edits, it had hours of compelling live coverage; the opposition had none.https://bit.ly/394GrzUhttps://bit.ly/2ZvllYchttps://bit.ly/2ZytQlchttps://bit.ly/2OJeZ1jhttps://bit.ly/3935Eue

Best of the Week — First Winner

Houston team vividly documents the grim reality playing out inside a Texas hospital

With coronavirus cases surging in Texas and other states, AP journalists David J. Phillip, John Mone and Nomaan Merchant went beyond the daily numbers to show the reality inside a small Houston hospital. In a gut-punch story that landed in newspapers and on nightly newscasts, the trio’s work included the last moments of a woman’s losing battle with the coronavirus.

But the package – Phillip’s photos, Mone’s video and Merchant’s text story – captured more than just a moment. It showed, with sensitivity, the grim realities almost certainly facing frontline workers in hospitals around the country.

Reaction to the story was massive. It was widely used in all formats by broadcast, print and online outlets in the U.S. and beyond. The video alone was the most-used U.S. story of the day – to a degree rarely seen.

For compelling, empathetic and revelatory storytelling from the frontline of the coronavirus fight, Phillip, Mone and Merchant win AP’s Best of the Week award.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

All-formats team out front on death of Seoul mayor

scored repeated beats in all formats when news broke that the Seoul mayor had gone missing amid a sexual harassment complaint. AP’s late-night news alerts on the discovery of the mayor’s body were well ahead of the competition; the print story led front pages on websites worldwide and BBC cited AP in its own copy.https://bit.ly/3h3FTNnhttps://bit.ly/391u3AIhttps://bit.ly/393YG8n

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP Exclusive: China forces Uighurs to cut births with IUDs, abortions, sterilization

The shocking story exposed a serious human rights issue: The Chinese government has forced the use of IUDs, abortions and sterilization on members of China’s Muslim minority in an apparent effort to reduce its population. 

The piece, which ran without a byline for security reasons, established that China is imposing birth control on Uighurs and other Muslims in a far more widespread and systematic way than previously known. The exclusive reporting drew on Uighur and Kazakh sources, research by a prominent China scholar and hours-long interviews with ex-detainees, family members and even a former detention camp instructor. 

The story elicited a strong global response from government officials, news media and the public.

For uncovering another major chapter on the plight of the Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in China, the unidentified AP reporter wins this week’s Best of the Week award.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

After AP’s analysis, a FIFA softens policy on activist protest

studied how soccer has applied rules against activist protest without considering the impact of major issues outside of sports. Harris wrote his analysis after a player for Borussia Dortmund, Jason Sancho, received a yellow card for showing his undershirt with a handwritten message of support for the George Floyd protests, contrary to the rule for players not to lift their jerseys in celebration. “Rarely has a rule looked so out of touch,” Harris wrote, noting that the killing of Floyd had resonated far beyond the United States. After the piece, FIFA reconsidered its policy and urged organizers to show common sense. The AP story was widely cited in other media.https://bit.ly/30VeCI4https://bit.ly/30VeQ1S

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP Exclusive: WHO’s behind-the-scenes frustration to get virus info from China

China and the Trump administration had opposing narratives about the early days of the new coronavirus epidemic: China bragged about providing information quickly to the world through the World Health Organization, while the Trump administration accused China and WHO of colluding to hide information.

It took The Associated Press – drawing on recordings, documents and interviews – to tell the definitive story: Rather than colluding with China, WHO itself was being kept in the dark, praising China in public to shake loose information while expressing considerable frustration in private.

AP’s widely praised story, months in the making, was so sensitive that we did not name the two main journalists to avoid blowback in China and to prevent anyone from identifying our sources.

For in-depth reporting that drew back the curtains and punctured the preferred narratives of China, WHO and the Trump administration at the same time, the AP reporters who produced this stunning piece earn Best of the Week honors. 

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Source work breaks story: Iran releases US veteran

broke the news that a U.S. Navy veteran detained in Iran for two years, Michael White, had been released from custody as part of a deal that resolved a Justice Department case against an American-Iranian doctor in the United States. The AP was far ahead of competitors with the breaking story and key details of the deal, the result of months of reporting by Lee and Tucker, including constant checks with sources in government and elsewhere. https://bit.ly/3cQC3or

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP reveals efforts to bring IS to justice for slave trade

spotlighted efforts by international investigators to bring the Islamic State to justice for the slavery and sex trafficking of Iraq’s Yazidi religious minority. The story, which took nearly a year, built on investigators’ documents and El Deeb’s reporting in Iraq and Syria to track down former slaves, owners and those who witnessed the enslavement, all complemented by powerful photos and video of women who had been trafficked.https://bit.ly/2TN6bu9https://bit.ly/2X9imUg

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Only on AP: Close-ups of migrant clashes at Turkish-Greek border

captured the conflict unfolding on the Turkish-Greek border in a way that competitors couldn’t match. With gendarmes making it more and more difficult for journalists to get close to the border clashes between Greek riot police and migrants attempting to cross the border from Turkey, the pair had to blend in among migrants to avoid the attention of Turkish police. They carried food and water in plastic bags and hid their cameras inside their clothes, dropping to the ground among migrants to take cover from tear gas fired from the Greek side. Their tactics enabled them to make photos and video – unmatched by other agencies – of the chaos and desperation at the border.https://bit.ly/3aNn1z1https://bit.ly/38KWqRN

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP exclusive reveals ex-Green Beret’s failed Venezuelan coup plot

In a gripping exclusive that reads like the plot of a Hollywood film, Latin America correspondent Josh Goodman revealed the failed plot to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by a ragtag group of 300 volunteers led by a former U.S. Green Beret. The ill-conceived plan called for the group to invade Venezuela from Colombia and ignite a popular rebellion that would end in Maduro’s arrest.

The plot was uncovered and dismantled with barely a whisper, but a cryptic tip to the well-sourced Goodman planted the seed of the story. Over the next several months he reviewed documents and interviewed more than 30 Maduro opponents and aspiring freedom fighters with knowledge of the plot, piecing together the narrative with a strong assist from investigative researcher Randy Herschaft.

Goodman’s story broke and reaction was strong: International media struggled to catch up and authorities in the U.S. and Colombia launched investigations. Senate Democrats have sent a letter to the Trump administration demanding answers.

For his impressive scoop on the failed coup that has been dubbed “The Bay of Piglets,” Goodman and Herschaft win AP’s Best of the Week award.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP takes a multinational look at the issues facing nursing homes

AP teams in Europe and the U.S. put together packages looking separately at the issues and concerns facing nursing homes during the coronavirus outbreak.

The European team produced three all-formats exclusives taking a searing look behind the scenes of nursing homes in Britain in France, exposing the pain that residents, families and medical staff are suffering as COVID-19 cuts a deadly path through homes for the elderly, killing thousands.https://bit.ly/3d0c3Yahttps://bit.ly/2VMG2Nc

In the U.S., New York staffers exposed the lack of coronavirus testing in U.S. nursing homes with two strong pieces, one finding only a third of such facilities have access to tests despite more than 13,000 deaths, and another on an outbreak in Brooklyn in which none of the 55 residents listed as dying from COVID-19 had ever been tested.https://bit.ly/3d18LE0https://bit.ly/2KMU630

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP: Saudis end death penalty for minors and floggings

used leaked documents and persistent source reporting to put the AP hours ahead of the competition with their story on Saudi Arabia's decree to end capital punishment for minors. The decree joined another ordering judges to end the practice of flogging. https://bit.ly/3bQ4anM

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP gets ‘blockbuster’ scoop on China’s delay in warning of the coronavirus

What and when did authorities in China know about the coronavirus’ initial spread and did they react fast enough? Those have become burning questions as COVID-19 tears a deadly and destructive path across the globe.

Among the toughest to answer, too. 

The Associated Press cracked open China’s lockdown on information with an exclusive story – based on internal documents and expert testimony – revealing that top officials in Beijing knew about a likely pandemic, but held off on warning the public for at least six days – while tens of thousands attended a banquet in Wuhan and millions more travelled for Lunar New Year festivities.

The story’s byline – “By The Associated Press” – testified to the risks run by the reporter who secured and developed the major scoop.

For breaking through China’s tightly policed walls of information control about the critical first days of the pandemic, with a scoop secured in one of the world’s toughest media environments, the unnamed but not unsung AP reporter is this week’s Best of the Week laureate.

Best of the Week — First Winner

All-formats team chronicles a pivotal 24 hours in ‘The Fight for New York’

On April 6 – the day when the COVID-19 death toll in New York City exceeded the toll of the Sept. 11 attacks – a team of AP journalists fanned out to tell the stories of average New Yorkers navigating the pandemic. 

From the bodega owner whose remaining customers are often funeral home workers, to a paramedic worried about the way the onslaught of cases was eating away at him and other first responders, the stories provided a vivid account of a city bent, but not broken, by the virus. “The Fight for New York” was a testament to the AP at its finest: smart planning and collaboration leading to 11 impactful text and video stories, more than two dozen photos and nine social edits, all delivered to customers with remarkable speed.

The package immediately resonated with readers, viewers and customers, winning strong play on the websites of most major news organizations. 

For extraordinary teamwork, planning and execution, the team of journalists behind “The Fight for New York” wins AP’s Best of the Week award.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP investigation: US wasted months before preparing for pandemic

examined weeks of federal procurement records, including a thorough review of federal purchasing contracts, to create a detailed timeline of events related to the spread of COVID-19 and the Trump administration’s response to the outbreak. The records show that the U.S. wasted two months when it could have been preparing to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Federal agencies largely waited until mid-March – when hospitals in several states were already treating thousands of infected patients – to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators and other equipment needed by front-line health care workers.

When AP White House reporter Kevin Freking attempted to ask Trump about the issue at Sunday’s briefing, the president angrily cut off the question, helping drive readers to Biesecker’s story, which was widely shared on social media.https://bit.ly/3aVhmavhttps://bit.ly/3aZdLby

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Chronicling the flood of US jobless claims

and a network of statehouse reporters anticipated the flood of jobless claims that were inundating state unemployment offices, aggressively reporting on astronomical increases in unemployment, including examples like Pennsylvania’s 70,000 new claims in one day. This did not sit well with the Labor Department, which a day later issued a memo to state unemployment offices saying they should not release their jobless numbers unilaterally, but rather wait for the weekly federal report to be released. https://bit.ly/33MUt6w

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Rolling out drive-thru coronavirus testing centers – chaotically

delivered a comprehensive national look the chaotic rollout of drive-thru coronavirus testing centers. Her reporting revealed that despite promises of widespread tresting, the drive-thru sites that were popping up in state parks, parking lots and outside hospitals were often plagued with long lines, inconsistencies, delays and shortages. https://bit.ly/2QR9Fdv

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Virus warnings slow to be issued in Spanish

reported a strong inequality-themed story on how government agencies were failing to publicize coronavirus health alerts in Spanish. The story focused on how Arizona, with 30% of its residents Hispanic, has no information on its state health webpage in Spanish and the health department was still translating coronavirus updates. https://bit.ly/2Jk6rv6