for an exclusive story saying Maryland's prison system would change procedures for notifying victims about inmate deaths. http://bit.ly/2dn6DKa
revisited the families and friends of 10 people among more than 60 victims of COVID-19 previously profiled by AP in 2020. Over the course of the pandemic, the global cooperative’s journalists have aimed to capture the human toll, one soul at a time. They’ve portrayed the deceased across ages, races, nationalities and social class, and documented the impact of losing someone. For this final Lives Lost story, reporters wanted to know how survivors were coping and ask what they remember most about their lost loved ones. But instead of photos or video, AP made illustrations of revealing objects or other telling details associated with the departed. Even during a very busy news week, the story and illustrations were widely used by news outlets. One family member thanked AP “from the bottom of his heart,” while another said: “I appreciate everything you’ve done for my family.” https://bit.ly/3s1M0bm
for coaxing the prosecutor handling the assault charge against Montana's new congressman into telling the AP the politician would plead guilty. http://wapo.st/2sp3Id1
for interviews with six more women who charge that maestro Charles Dutoit sexually abused them, including one who alleged rape. http://bit.ly/2Dbc9KM
in-depth reporting on the scandals that have rocked New Mexico State University since last year led him to an exclusive all-formats interview with the two basketball players who filed a lawsuit against the school.Read more.
for overcoming restrictions imposed by the government to deliver compelling cross-format coverage of funeral rites and burials for some the 39 Vietnamese victims of human trafficking, whose bodies where discovered inside a truck in the England in October. Hau reported for text, captured stills and delivered live video.https://bit.ly/2OWlte9https://bit.ly/2RuutsBhttps://bit.ly/2rWCbkk
for pressing Pope Francis about the sexual abuse of nuns by priests and bishops. Drawing on AP’s ground-breaking reporting in the past year, Winfield elicited the pope's first public acknowledgement of the problem, opening a new chapter in the Catholic Church’s sex abuse reckoning. https://bit.ly/2Go2yVz
After a prominent Philadelphia neurologist was charged with groping several patients at his clinic, Pennsylvania reporter Michael Rubinkam began digging into the neurologist's past to see if he had been accused of wrongdoing elsewhere.
Reviewing documents in three states, and checking with medical centers and law enforcement, he was able to determine that at least 17 women in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey have stepped forward to accuse Cruciani of sexual misconduct that goes back at least a dozen years. Two days after Rubinkam’s story ran, Cruciani pleaded guilty to groping seven patients.
For reporting exclusively that Cruciani has left behind a trail of sex abuse claims in at least three states, and obtaining powerful accounts of how he was able to prey on vulnerable patients, Rubinkam wins this week’s Best of the States award.
for breaking the latest fallout from a scandal involving sexual harassment and other misconduct around the National Parks Service: Disciplinary action would be taken against 10 people at Yellowstone National Park. http://bit.ly/2wsYfzX http://wapo.st/2ffQPwF
for tallying more than 100 state lawmakers across the U.S. who had been credibly accused of harassment in the #MeToo era in the past three years – and what actions, if any, states have taken to address the problem. After a Michigan state lawmaker was accused by a young reporter and a fellow lawmaker of sexual harassment, AP moved quickly to provide a completely distinctive story – as well as an exclusive data set that members could mine for their own use. https://bit.ly/2GBJLFb
The wildfire that consumed Paradise, California, claimed 85 lives while virtually burning the town off the map. But beyond those facts lay a rich narrative of the individuals who perished while calling Paradise home.
AP San Francisco reporters Janie Har and Jocelyn Gecker set out to tell the stories of the victims of the deadly Paradise fire far more comprehensively than was possible in the immediate aftermath: Who were they? Where and when did they die? Did they even have a chance to flee?
To paint a picture of how the tragedy unfolded, the pair spent months tracking down family members – many of whom were wary – to talk about their loved ones, assuring them that AP’s coverage would be more than a recitation of the grim facts. Interviews with California fire officials, a newly available simulation of the fire’s movement on the fateful morning and public records requests enabled AP to produce an interactive graphic giving the exact locations where people died and their approximate times of death.
The result was a riveting package that coupled intimate portraits of the victims with the circumstances of their death. Most never had a chance to flee their homes as the fast-moving fire barreled through.
The moving package was well-received by members throughout California and from coast-to-coast.
For carrying the Paradise story forward with enterprising, sensitive work that focused on the victims’ narratives, Har and Gecker share this week’s Best of the States award.
for using a researcher’s data to show the Mormon Church was continuing its disputed practice of posthumous baptism of Holocaust victims despite assurances that it would stop. http://bit.ly/2BVGH5R
When a California judge chose the most lenient sentence for a Stanford swimmer convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman on campus, the outrage made national headlines for weeks. Anger at the judge turned into a recall effort on the June 5 primary ballot and more widespread media coverage.
Despite the glare, Judge Aaron Persky has been mostly silent for nearly two years. San Francisco reporter Paul Elias has spent nearly that entire time asking for an interview, over and over.
Those efforts paid off with an exclusive, three-hour all formats interview at the judge’s home. The judge said he had no regrets, even though the sentence may cost him his judgeship. The resulting story was featured prominently in local and national media.
For his persistence in getting AP a fascinating interview on a competitive story, Elias wins this week's Best of the States award.
for bringing readers the other side of the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment story: The women who cannot bring themselves to come forward publicly. https://apnews.com/60feb2d1ac314ba9bc9250a35d3f91b...
for revealing that Michigan State University, already reeling from the Larry Nassar gymnastics scandal, had maintained ties to a prominent volleyball coach long after he was publicly accused in 1995 of sexually abusing and raping six underage girls. https://bit.ly/2HOFgWL
for detailing a devastating but little-known outgrowth of the housing crisis: Deed-theft scams that trick mostly elderly and vulnerable people into signing over title to their homes, typically in gentrifying areas, leaving them homeless or facing years of legal wrangling to undo the fraud. http://apne.ws/2oERZ4U
secured the first look at a memoir by Natalie Wood’s sister, breaking the story that Kirk Douglas was the man who allegedly sexually assaulted Wood.
AP national writer Italie had been trying for years to get more details about the dark Hollywood secret. Wood’s younger sister Lana had dangled that she would name the person who assaulted Wood only after he was dead. Italie had a hunch Douglas was that person, but couldn't confirm it until now. Well-sourced in the publishing world, he landed a first read of Lana’s memoir naming Douglas for the assault of her sister.
Italie made sure AP would be first to break it, building in time to craft a fully formed story and give the Douglas family ample chance to respond. Actor Michael Douglas’ response did not refute Lana Wood’s claim, simply saying: “May they both rest in peace.”The piece was a major draw — AP’s top story in reader engagement for the week. News outlets from Variety to The Times of London picked up the story with credit to AP. https://aplink.news/hh6
used a distinctive, nuanced approach to explore one of the biggest unknowns in Ethiopia’s yearlong Tigray conflict: the death toll.The story, funded by a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, went beyond the numbers, humanizing the horrific toll of the war through a Tigrayan man, Desta Haileselassie, who collects the names of the dead — a groom, a lawyer, an ambulance driver — more than 3,000 Ethnic Tigrayans confirmed so far. He reluctantly revealed to Anna that 19 members of his own family had died. Video journalist Keyton and stroytelling producer Castañeda conducted a delicate interview with Desta in Stockholm, while Anna, AP’s East Africa correspondent, attended online. The listkeeper was deeply affected by his experience but the journalists earned his trust, gently eliciting information from him while careful not to re-traumatize him.The resulting package is powerful and engaging — and balanced, noting atrocities and victims on both sides of the conflict. It introduces victims by name and goes on to tell their stories. At its most personal it focuses on Desta’s mother, whom he hasn’t been able to reach since June. Instead he listens to recordings he made of her voice.The photos and presentation by Castañeda are no less compelling as AP continues to lead coverage of the Tigray conflict despite severe restrictions on access. Readers, competitors and experts complimented this latest work, with one describing it as a “masterpiece of precision, thoughtfulness and humanity.”https://aplink.news/iduhttps://aplink.news/c90https://aplink.video/p3whttps://aplink.photos/fbs
for obtaining exclusive correspondence from disgraced former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick to three seminarians he is accused of sexually molesting or abusing. Winfield was tipped off to the story by seeing the correspondence to one seminarian in AP’s project files for The Reckoning investigation. That led to examples of McCarrick’s correspondence with two more men. Appearing innocuous and warm, McCarrick’s letters and postcards to the young men are a window into the way a predator grooms his prey, according to abuse prevention experts consulted by the AP. https://bit.ly/2Mjlk45
The tears, grief and tension of President Donald Trump’s listening session with shooting victims and families after the Florida high school massacre were profound. Washington photographer Carolyn Kaster’s job was to capture the compelling event in images. That’s no easy task at the White House, where events are tightly managed and photographers’ movements are highly restricted.
But Kaster, working with photo editor Jon Elswick, overcame these obstacles and delivered an image of a hand-written note held by the president that quickly went viral and became one of the most talked-about stories of the day. The image wins Kaster and Elswick the Beat of the Week.
