All departments in the DC bureau moved at light speed with the announcement late Friday afternoon that “out of an abundance of caution,” the bureau was closing over coronavirus concerns.
As desk editors coordinated staffing to keep copy moving, the technology team pulled marathon shifts through the weekend to get all radio and video staffs equipped with both the hardware and software needed to maintain their work, including retrofitting two D.C. hotel rooms into makeshift radio studios. Video staff were brought up one at a time to lock in functionality and training as that group moved to 100% remote editing and filing through tools that had still been in the trial phase.
The net result: AP’s largest bureau transitioned seamlessly, maintaining coverage across all formats even as the severity of the coronavirus story was accelerating. https://bit.ly/3a4Mkg3