Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Rio police: Scant evidence so far in Lochte robbery probe

for keeping AP ahead of developments in the fast-changing, highly-competitive Ryan Lochte story. Among the highlights were footage and photos of two of Lochte’s teammates being detained after they were removed from an airplane, and police officials expressing their doubts about Lochte’s account to the AP a day before calling it fabricated. Text: http://summergames.ap.org/article/2-lochte-teammat... Video: http://abcn.ws/2b0ZOua

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

FBI developed plan to protect evidence in Russia investigation

for breaking the news that after the firing of Director James Comey, top FBI officials developed a plan to protect evidence in the Russia investigation. https://bit.ly/2NcZtJa

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP Exclusive: Trump rape accuser seeking his DNA

for landing an exclusive report about the columnist E. Jean Carroll seeking a DNA sample from President Donald Trump to potentially back her accusation that he raped her in a department store dressing room. Peltz raised the question of DNA testing with Carroll’s legal team last November and stayed in contact with the team, prompting them to reach out with the news that they had tested the dress Carroll wore during the alleged assault. https://bit.ly/36ZTaRM

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP analysis: Little evidence of radical left in protests

analyzed all the arrests over the last two weeks in Washington and Minneapolis, concluding that there is little evidence of “antifa” or “radical left” protest groups provoking violence as President Donald Trump claimed. The story, rich with detail, described who the real protesters were. Among them: a balloon artist, a cellist and a law student. But it was the heft of the reporting – acquiring and scouring hundreds of records in a limited amount of time – that made the anecdotal aspects of the story all the more credible. https://bit.ly/3f80JtW

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP team finds first evidence of Belarus facilitating migrant wave

collaborated on an “Only on AP” package documenting Belarusian authorities’ involvement in a recent surge of immigration from Belarus into Lithuania. In the past two months more than 1,700 have crossed the border — 20 times the total for all of 2020.Lithuanian and European Union officials have accused Belarus of assisting the migration in retaliation over EU sanctions against the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko, but no evidence had been provided and no media outlets had been able to speak to the migrants themselves, who are held in heavily guarded, makeshift camps in Lithuania.The determined all-formats trio of Chernov, Dapkus and Kulbis, seeking to hear from the migrants themselves, drove from camp to camp, more than 600 kilometers (375 miles), eventually finding two smaller, remote camps where police allowed the journalists to speak with migrants. People confirmed they were paying to be taken to Europe via Belarus, and that Belarus had helped them get to Lithuania. AP was allowed inside one of the camps to briefly make photos and video of the migrants’ living conditions.With Karmanau reporting from Belarus and Isachakov in Moscow pulling all the reporting into a cohesive piece, the resulting all-formats exclusive revealed how migrants have once again been caught up in a game of political brinksmanship.https://aplink.news/fwdhttps://aplink.video/flk

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP finds evidence of spills at toxic site during Hurricane Harvey floods

for uncovering evidence that three chemical spills were reported to the U.S. government at one of Houston’s dirtiest toxic waste sites after Hurricane Harvey, spills the Environmental Protection Agency had not acknowledged. http://bit.ly/2hBuQS3

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP documents evidence of Tigray ethnic cleansing by Ethiopia

teamed up to present the strongest case yet that Ethiopia has conducted a campaign of ethnic cleansing against its Tigray minority, who have claimed for months that thousands are being killed, raped and starved by the Ethiopian government and its allies.East Africa correspondent Anna and Cairo-based photographer El-Mofty conducted meticulous interviews with 30 refugees in Sudan who had fled their homeland, as well as aid workers and officials. Person after person described multiple killings, and several women and medical workers described mass rapes. Many warned that deliberate starvation had already started. The journalists also documented hard evidence of the ethnic cleansing, in the form of an identity card that completely removed all references to the Tigray minority. “I kept it to show the world,” one refugee said.El-Mofty’s photos were stunning, and a freelancer joined the team to take video footage. The package included an animated graphic of the identity cards by Peter Hamlin, and presentation by Natalie Castañeda.The deeply reported story sparked immediate reaction, and the Ethiopian government was provoked to reply, criticizing “the rush to accuse the government” and calling Tigray forces “a criminal enterprise.” But one researcher told Anna, “You just wrote the most harrowing report about Tigray to date.” Even the bureau chief of a major competitor called the story “beautifully written,” saying he was “super jealous.”https://bit.ly/3aaiLLVhttps://bit.ly/2ORR2ILhttps://bit.ly/3dk9Idu

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP team finds evidence of illegal migrant pushbacks by Greece

landed an all-formats interview with a Palestinian woman that hinted at a controversial tactic the Greek government has denied using: migrant pushbacks, the illegal summary deportations of migrants without giving them a chance to apply for asylum.With help from Svarnias, a reporter on the island of Samos, Athens video journalist Lefteris Pitarakis and photographer Petros Giannakouris, Becatoros unraveled the story of the Palestinian woman who said she and her three children arrived from Turkey several days earlier on a boat with other migrants, but she and the children became separated from the group and managed to apply for asylum. The other 28 members of the group ended up being found in a life raft sent back to sea.The reporting by Becatoros and Svarnias resulted in a thorough account of one of the most tangible examples yet of a systematic effort to deport migrants from Greece directly upon arrival. Greece vehemently denies the claims, but rights groups and migrants insist that Greece has been carrying out the practice.https://aplink.news/ic5https://aplink.video/ti0

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP exposes evidence that Burkina Faso security forces massacred civilians

West Africa Correspondent Sam Mednick obtained exclusive accounts from massacre survivors in the remote region of Zaongo in Burkina Faso.

Killings of civilians by security forces happen regularly in Burkina Faso yet are hardly reported amid a brutal war with jihadist rebels. Few survivors are brave enough to speak out and most flee, staying silent under a repressive regime. Government investigations are also rare, and no one is held accountable.

Mednick, who is based in Senegal, was looking into reports of one of many such violent incidents that she had seen video evidence of circulating in WhatsApp groups, when a source in Dakar said he had relatives who survived the massacre and could speak to her.

Through the trusted contact in Senegal, she was able to talk to a family that lived in the area and connect with survivors.

AP was the only media able to get the story and photos of this attack, one of several killings under investigation by the U.N. and government. To date, no one has been held accountable.

Washington-based newsperson Michael Biesecker was able to add reporting on Burkina’s military links to the U.S. and worked closely with Mednick from the start to develop the reporting.

For exposing a crime that was all but impossible to report on, Mednick and Biesecker’s story is Best of the Week — First Winner.

Best of the States

Experience, persistence pay off with breaking news: US to collect asylum seekers’ DNA

Immigration and Homeland Security reporter Colleen Long’s ears perked up in early October when she heard agency officials mention “CODIS” as they briefed reporters on the likelihood they would expand their practice of collecting DNA from migrants. 

CODIS, she knew from experience, was an FBI database usually associated with violent crimes, so Long was surprised to hear of its use in connection with migrants whose only crime was crossing the border illegally. Long followed up with detailed questions at the briefing but didn’t get answers, so she kept pressing officials.

Her persistence was rewarded with an advance briefing on the new rule, and additional details about how the DNA policy would be implemented. Long’s story moved hours ahead of the official announcement, becoming one of the most-read stories of the day. 

For making the early connection to the policy implications of the DNA database, then pressing the issue with officials until she had the exclusive details, Long earns this week’s Best of the States award.

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP reporting on Rohingya exodus leads to evidence of mass graves in Myanmar

"It was a mixed-up jumble of corpses piled on top of each other."

That was how a Rohingya Muslim survivor described the horrific scene of a mass grave in the Myanmar village of Gu Dar Pyin. Faces of the victims appeared mutilated, possibly with acid. The survivor said he recognized his friends only by the colors of their shorts.

AP Seoul bureau chief Foster Klug, along with photographer Manish Swarup and videojournalist Rishabh Jain, both of New Delhi, were able to find evidence of five previously unreported mass graves in the village. With interviews, video they secured from someone who had been on the scene after the killings and satellite imagery, the reporting pointed to a systematic slaughter of Rohingya Muslim civilians by the military, with help from Buddhist neighbors.

For their exclusive package that detailed previously uncovered evidence of an atrocity, Klug, Swarup and Jain share Beat of the Week.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

US officials search for evidence of crimes by Haitians as key decision nears

for reporting exclusively that Homeland Security officials deciding whether 50,000 Haitians should be allowed to remain in the U.S. searched for evidence of criminal conduct and other misdeeds. The decision is supposed to be based on living conditions in their home country. https://apnews.com/740ed5b40ce84bb398c82c48884be61...

Best of the States

Only on AP: Family – and journalist – rewarded with answers in 40-year-old cold case

Resolving cold cases can be thankless work for law enforcement – and an endless emotional journey for the families affected. Tamara Lush used the lens of one Florida cold case, and the relatives of a long-missing woman, to give life to the backlog of such cases nationwide.

After the publication of her first big takeout on an exhumation in a cold case, Lush turned her attention to two sisters who played just a small role in that piece. Lush met with the family numerous times – she was with them every step of the way through the drawn-out process of DNA tests, results, periods of silence from police, the day they finally got some answers about their missing family member, and the moment they shared that news with the woman's mother. The narrative story, teeming with emotion and details, can't be matched by any competitor.

For her Only on AP story that gave a face to the national backlog of cold cases, Lush wins this week’s Best of the States award.

Best of the Week — First Winner

In exclusive AP interview, AG Barr says no evidence of widespread election fraud, undermining Trump

Justice Department reporter Mike Balsamo has spent months cultivating sources at the Department of Justice, earning a reputation as an objective journalist who reports fairly and accurately. 

His relationships paid off with an exclusive interview of U.S. Attorney General William Barr, in which Barr said the DOJ could find no evidence of widespread voting fraud, dramatically undercutting President Donald Trump’s insistence to the contrary.

“I knew ... he had made probably the biggest news he has in his tenure as AG,” said Balsamo. His story topped the news cycle and resonated for days. No other news outlet could match it and AP was widely cited for the scoop.

For persistent, evenhanded reporting on the Justice Department beat resulting in the interview that netted one of AP’s most consequential news coups of the year, Balsamo wins AP’s Best of the Week honors.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP: Bodies in Sudan river latest evidence of ethnic killings in Tigray

were the first to report on dozens of bodies, many found mutilated and with their hands bound, found floating in the border river that separates Sudan from the conflict-torn Ethiopian province of Tigray. The bodies are evidence of continued atrocities being committed on the other side of the border amid a communications blackout and virtually zero access to Tigray, where ethnic killings by Ethiopian forces and their allies have frequently been reported during the nine-month war.Strong source work and compelling visual storytelling put the AP well ahead on the story. Tigrayan refugees in Sudan alerted reporters Anna and Magdy to the appearance of bodies, and a refugee surgeon traveled to the site to get images. Magdy also got key confirmation from a Sudanese official — countering Ethiopian government claims that such reports are Tigrayan propaganda. Anna also spoke to refugee doctors for more details.AP broke the story hours ahead of major competitors and was also first with visuals from the border area — the surgeon’s images obtained by Magdy and a strong pieced-together visual narrative produced and shot by video freelancer Awad. He was the first journalist to reach the scene to visually confirm at least six graves with witness accounts, which Anna wrote up as an Only on AP text story.The work had a major impact in Europe, where more than 40 TV networks used it.https://aplink.news/bnr

Best of the Week — First Winner

Perseverance lands AP interview with Ukrainian president; team in Bucha documents evidence of war crimes

With a dedication to continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine, the AP teams in and around Kyiv landed an interview with the Ukrainian president and offered a definitive all-formats chronicle of the mass killings in Bucha.

In the capital, AP journalists relentlessly pursued an interview with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Asia-Pacific news director Adam Schreck, video journalist Mstyslav Chernov and photographer Evgeniy Maloletka eventually sat down with the president in a bunker-like government building, the dramatic setting adding to the power of the all-formats interview.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Kyiv, reporter Cara Anna and a team of visual journalists brought the horror of life and death in Bucha to readers around the world, walking the streets and talking with witnesses to the murders and other abuses under Russian occupation of the town. The team saw at least a dozen uncollected bodies and talked with two dozen survivors and witnesses, each telling horrific stories.

The teams’ coverage received strong play and reader engagement, a sign that AP’s customers and audience are still keenly interested in accurate, definitive accounts of the war.

For shedding light on an increasingly dark era for Ukraine, we honor Adam Schreck, Mstyslav Chernov, Evgeniy Maloletka, Cara Anna, Oleksandr Stashevskyi, Rodrigo Abd, Vadim Ghirda and Felipe Dana as AP’s Best of the Week — First Winners.

Best of the Week — First Winner

Unique AP visual investigation points to 600 dead in airstrike on Mariupol theater

A deeply reported, innovative and meticulous AP investigation determined that the deadliest apparent war crime so far in Ukraine — the March 16 Mariupol theater airstrike — likely killed about 600 people, twice as many as previously reported.

AP’s first full-blown visual investigation drew on survivors’ accounts, photos, video, experts and a 3D digital model of the theater to reconstruct what happened that day. The resulting package offered a vivid, detailed narrative of the events inside the theater, including elements that had not previously been reported, all delivered in an arresting presentation.

For a remarkable investigation that harnessed the power of all formats to break news, the team of Hinnant, Ritzel, Chernov, Stepanenko and Goodman is AP’s Best of the Week — First Winner.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Only on AP: Probe finds evidence of bank boss’s romance with top aide

exclusively reported details of an internal investigation finding that a former Trump official, president of Latin America’s biggest development bank, had an inappropriate romantic relationship with his chief of staff — a scoop followed hours later by the bank directors’ vote to recommend firing the executive.Latin America correspondent Goodman had been reporting for months on the anonymous allegations surrounding Inter-American Development Bank President Mauricio Claver-Carone. He was not alone; other major news organizations were chasing the story too. But Goodman broke the news when he obtained a law firm’s report with evidence of the relationship, including a photo of a restaurant place mat on which the couple purportedly outlined a “contract” and a timeline for divorcing their spouses and getting married.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP finds evidence revealing families received fake ashes from Colorado funeral home

After authorities discovered more than 100 decaying bodies at a Colorado funeral home in early October, speculation spread that families may have received fake ashes. Thanks to dogged reporting, the AP broke the news that confirmed the rumors with an all-formats story.Read more

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP Exclusive: US scientists try first gene editing in the body

Brian Madeux made medical history on Nov. 13 when he became the first person to have his genes edited inside his body in an attempt to cure a genetic disease. And the Associated Press was the only news organization to document this experiment, which could advance medicine by giving a potentially safer, more precise and permanent way to do gene therapy.

Chief Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione got word earlier this year that the gene editing work would soon begin. She negotiated exclusive rights to the story, giving AP sole access to the patient, doctors and scientists involved. She spent six months reporting the story, teaming with journalists in three cities through several false starts and twists and turns to deliver an all-formats package.

For their enterprising work on a groundbreaking story, the team of Marchione, Kathy Young, Terry Chea, Eric Risberg and Marshall Ritzel wins Beat of the Week.