Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Deep reporting exposes the missteps leading to Beirut blast

delivered a stunning and disturbing account of the years of dysfunction behind Beirut’s massive explosion that killed at least 180 people. Based on exhaustive reporting and source work, the AP team produced the most detailed, comprehensive lead-up to Aug. 4, including what is known of the cargo, paper trail, circumstances and missteps that led to the devastating blast. https://bit.ly/34JIJUK

Best of the States

Inside the reopening debate: Local school boards face ‘impossible’ decisions

With school districts nationwide wrestling with tough decisions on reopening amid the pandemic, South Carolina reporter Jeffrey Collins wanted to show that process at work.

When several districts rebuffed his efforts at behind-the-scene access, Collins took another approach. He started reporting by watching a school board’s meetings online, taking voluminous notes. Demonstrating a thorough understanding of what the district was facing, he was finally granted in-person access to the district’s meetings and discussions for a revealing all-formats package. 

For finding a way to delve into a local school board’s deliberations, and providing insight into conversations happening nationally, Collins wins this week’s Best of the States award.

Best of the Week — First Winner

Dual honorees: Stunning coverage of Belarus protests, and a Ganges River odyssey

This week two distinctly different bodies of work share AP’s weekly honors for their outstanding coverage:

An all-formats team in Minsk, Belarus, facing constant police intimidation, continued to provide extensive coverage of mass protests over the nation’s disputed presidential election. That work included exclusive video of a bloody protester falling to the ground dead in front of heavily armed police, footage that forced the government to reverse its narrative of the incident.

And in work of a different dimension entirely, New Delhi photographer Altaf Qadri spent many months documenting life along the 1,700-mile River Ganges, considered sacred by almost 1 billion Hindus in India. 

Starting with a treacherous two-day hike to the foot of the Himalayas – the remote source of the Ganges – and ending in the fast disappearing mangrove forests of the Sundarbans, Qadri captured a breathtaking range along his odyssey: celebration and death, solitude and fellowship, daily life and holy rites. 

For extraordinary work in enterprise and spot news journalism, Altaf Qadri and the Belarus team of Mstyslav Chernov, Sergei Grits, Yuras Karmanau, Dimitri Kozlov and Dmitri Lovetsky share AP’s Best of the Week award.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP: Pandemic threatens decades of progress against poverty

tells with sensitivity the story of struggling Ethiopians, including an impoverished single mother, illustrating how decades of global progress against extreme poverty are in danger of slipping away because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With photographer Mulugeta Ayene, Meseret reports on a mother and daughter in Ethiopia – the mother’s hopes for her daughter representing the slow emergence of country’s middle class – and how those hopes are crumbling amid the pandemic.Meseret and colleague Cara Anna weave in World Bank data, putting the story into global context. The world could see its first increase in extreme poverty in 22 years, with up to 100 million more people worldwide falling into the bitter existence of living on just $1.90 a day, further sharpening social inequities. https://bit.ly/2Q29afI

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

An intimate look at LA’s Watts, 55 years after violence erupted

traced the Watts neighborhood of South Los Angeles from the 1965 riots to the Watts of today. While Watts did not experience the violent protests that shook parts of LA and other cities in the wake of George Floyd’s killing, the AP team found a neighborhood still bearing scars 55 years after a traffic stop of a Black motorist by a white police officer led to a mass uprising and widespread violence. Through words, photos, video and archival images, the trio takes an intimate look at the challenges facing Watts at a time when racial justice and police violence are central issues in America.https://bit.ly/2E90pxThttps://bit.ly/2Ei193Whttps://bit.ly/34b1wbo

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP analysis: NY State is likely undercounting nursing home deaths

analyzed available data to show that New York’s coronavirus death toll in nursing homes, already among the nation’s highest, is likely undercounted by thousands. New York is the only state among those with major outbreaks that only counts residents who died on nursing home property, not in hospitals, leading to speculation the administration of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo is manipulating its figures to make it appear it is doing better on nursing homes than other states. https://bit.ly/2DUz6Yz

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Families in Appalachia describe challenges of online learning

made the most of her first major enterprise story in Kentucky, reporting deep in the mountains of Appalachia on the dilemma facing parents with spotty internet service as they weigh the challenge of a new school year. Together with freelance photographer Bryan Woolston, Blackburn sharpened the focus on an often overlooked segment of the population to demonstrate the unique challenges they face, doing so with sensitivity and respect. https://bit.ly/3g8OnBR

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP scoop on Justice Department investigation of Yale discrimination

landed a scoop on a Justice Department investigation into higher education. Balsamo got word through sources that the two-year investigation was completed and had found something attention-grabbing: Yale University was illegally discriminating against Asian American and white applicants, in violation of federal civil rights law. Working with education reporter Collin Binkley, the pair scrambled to move a story that crushed other major news outlets by nearly an hour. Thanks to Binkley’s reporting, the AP was also first to get Yale’s statement on the probe, which it said was “hasty” and unfair. https://bit.ly/34cw1gT

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Sourcing, hustle put AP far ahead with story of Israel-UAE ties

dominated from the start with fast, comprehensive and nuanced reporting on the diplomatic ties initiated between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Lee had a heads-up that the deal was in the offing hours ahead of the announcement and obtained a copy of the forthcoming statement. That gave Federman and Gambrell time to prewrite a story and an alert ahead of the anticipated tweet from President Donald Trump. When Trump’s tweet duly landed, AP’s NewsAlert moved a minute later, just before White House reporters entered the Oval Office. And another minute later, a 1,000-word, triple-byline story hit the wire. Meanwhile AP broadcast colleagues, also alerted, were well ahead of the competition with coverage of developments and reaction from Middle East points. https://bit.ly/3ha2J6i

Best of the States

The pandemic crisis ‘laid bare’ in AP report from Texas maternity ward

Few places in America have been as hard hit by the pandemic as the Texas border, and the package by this all-formats team exposes the stark contrast between this part of the country and regions with greater resources. 

With access to two hospitals overwhelmed by cases in the Rio Grande Valley, AP reporter Paul Weber, photographer Eric Gay and video journalist John Mone carefully documented stories of patients and staff, including a new mom in the maternity ward who unknowingly contracted the virus and had to be isolated from her newborn. 

Weber wrote: “The U.S. failure to contain the pandemic has been laid bare.”

For a compelling and hard-to-report all-formats package, Weber, Gay and Mone win this week’s Best of the States award.

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP staff works through injuries and destroyed homes to cover Beirut blast

The deafening Tuesday afternoon explosion tore through Beirut and shattered everything in a few terrifying seconds, badly damaging the AP bureau and the homes of several AP employees in the Lebanese capital. Three employees were injured in their homes by broken glass.

But despite the mayhem and injuries, the AP team sprang into action to deliver standout all-formats coverage of an event that killed more than 170 people and injured some 6,000, sending a mushroom cloud over the city.

The remarkable work was magnified by the fact that a large majority of broadcasters and other news organizations didn’t have a journalist in Beirut, relying mainly on the AP and again affirming the value of the agency’s global footprint.

For their stunning coverage and selfless efforts, the Beirut staff wins AP’s Best of the Week award.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP team dominates coverage of controversial Belarus vote

overcame a beating at the hands of police and an internet blackout to deliver compelling footage and images, including exclusive interviews, throughout the disputed Belarus presidential election. When the state-run exit poll was announced after the vote, showing longtime authoritarian president President Alexander Lukashenko with 80% of the vote, thousands took to the streets. They were met with force by riot police as the government shut down the internet and tried to close the country off from the rest of the world. Video journalist Mstyslav Chernov was among those beaten and detained as police clashed with protesters.Despite the obstacles, AP outperformed the competition, working around the blackout to transmit strong all-formats coverage to the world ahead of other agencies.https://bit.ly/31PWEWahttps://bit.ly/2DCMZKNhttps://bit.ly/2XSMuCYhttps://bit.ly/3kysJdT

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP reveals investigation into Venezuelan officials’ money laundering

used deep source reporting to uncover an international investigation into how the former treasurer of Venezuela, who had once served as nurse to then-President Hugo Chávez, used a network of offshore shell companies and dodgy Swiss bankers to loot millions from Venezuela, hiding much of her unexplained wealth in gold.

Goodman’s piece provided a rare look into how former officials in Venezuela used various money laundering schemes to raid the country’s coffers of an estimated $300 billion in two decades of socialist rule. An unexpected twist was the physical transfer of heavy gold bars — previously unmentioned in court records — underscoring the lengths to which some prominent Venezuelans have gone to hide stolen wealth. https://bit.ly/2PMX2iI

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Tokyo team produces outstanding coverage of Hiroshima 75th

scored reported beats thanks to careful planning and virus precautions both before and during a trip to Hiroshima for live coverage of the 75th anniversary of the first use of an atomic bomb in World War II.The trio’s coverage, emphasizing the stories of survivors, made an impression, was used by news outlets worldwide. Even major Japanese publications leaned heavily on AP’s coverage, sometimes over the work of their own journalists.https://bit.ly/3gVnPVVhttps://bit.ly/3kJoDQ0https://bit.ly/33T6Tfbhttps://bit.ly/30RwO4Uhttps://bit.ly/3g2i5Zv

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Documenting the border’s ‘forgotten frontier’ in the pandemic

used exclusive hospital access and character-driven all-formats storytelling to reveal the impact of the coronavirus on Imperial County, an often overlooked majority Latino community on the California-Mexico border, already affected poverty, air pollution, lack of health care and a border crossed by thousands daily. The team’s all-formats package, used widely across the country, evoked empathy and shed light on how such communities are exceptionally vulnerable to the virus.https://bit.ly/3gXdOYnhttps://bit.ly/31Re9Fw

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Secret court documents reveal case against Colombian ex-president

obtained, through personal contacts and sources, 1500 pages of secret court documents that detail the evidence and justification behind a decision by Colombia’s Supreme Court subjecting former president Alvaro Uribe to house arrest while he awaits formal charges for alleged witness tampering. The documents include accounts of urgent WhatsApp messages, secretly recorded meetings and intercepted phone calls that reveal a rushed search by Uribe’s team for witnesses – loyalists willing to do anything necessary to stop the case from proceeding. https://bit.ly/2XTiPtu

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Teamwork leads to exclusive on North Korea explosion

used cross-format, cross-border teamwork to deliver a huge beat on an explosion in Hyesan, North Korea, on the border with China. Unconfirmed reports say that gas explosions in a residential area left dozens of people dead or injured.Kim learned of the explosion through sources; Wang and Zhang then spent hours scouring Chinese social media, finally obtaining user-generated video that confirmed the story. AP’s exclusive multiformat report was widely used in international media, and a competitive agency was forced to cite AP in its own reporting. https://bit.ly/30UEGmqhttps://bit.ly/3iGX0FD

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Sourcing delivers scoop on Whitmer veepstakes interview

used strong source work to break the news that Joe Biden met with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in Biden’s first-known in-person interview with a potential vice presidential candidate. https://bit.ly/3fUcx30

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP Exclusive: Portland protests – the view from both sides of the fence

This week’s Best of the Week celebrates the team of AP journalists whose extensive coverage of the Portland protests culminated in an exclusive all-formats look at the conflict from the perspective of both demonstrators and federal officers.

With reporting and visuals from inside the federal courthouse that no other news organization could match, and consistently strong coverage from the crowd massed outside the building, the AP team documented the drama and chaos, as well as the human stories amid the nightly volley of fireworks and tear gas canisters.

The defining feature that moved Sunday night was the most clicked/engaged AP story for much of Monday, sparking discussion and widely cited for its comprehensive, fair reporting.

For balanced and insightful coverage from both sides of the Portland divide, setting AP apart on a highly charged story, the team of Gillian Flaccus, Mike Balsamo, Aron Ranen, Marcio Sanchez, Noah Berger, Sara Cline and Krysta Fauria wins AP’s Best of the Week award.

Best of the States

Players open up to AP, describe coach’s abusive practices at Oregon State

National sports writer Eddie Pells was first approached in February by the mom of a player who said she had some concerns about abuses going on in the volleyball program at Oregon State. 

Over the next five months, Pells conducted dozens of interviews both in and out of the program, and checked with experts to learn if volleyball coach Mark Barnard was over the line. Several athletes spoke to Pells, including a former OSU player who described how the coach’s abusive practices contributed to a suicide attempt. 

Pells’ exclusive led to immediate calls for the coach’s firing and questions about the university officials who didn’t take action after hearing complaints. 

For months of persistent and sensitive reporting despite uncertain prospects, resulting in an impressive story with impact, Pells wins this week’s Best of the States award.