AP Beats | Home

Best of the Week - First Winner Dec. 23, 2022

Sources give AP tech team a beat on a critical Twitter story

Matt O'Brien and Barbara Ortutay anticipated that Elon Musk might disband Twitter's Trust and Safety Council, a group of external advisors who helped the platform with complicated content moderation -- and they broke the story as a result.

O'Brien, based in Providence, and New York-based Ortutay concluded after billionaire Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion that the trust council’s future was in doubt.

They kept contact with members of the group, which included around 100 independent civil, human rights and other organizations, and noted the date when the council was next scheduled to meet.

When the council finally was disbanded via email, their multiple sources reached out with a copy, and AP was first with the story.

For foresight and source work that made the scoop possible, O’Brien and Ortutay are Best of the Week – 1st Winner.

Best of the Week - Second Winner Dec. 23, 2022

COVID-battered Beijing crew beats the competition

The unleashing of COVID-19 in Beijing following the end of China’s “zero-COVID” policy didn’t spare AP’s Beijing bureau. Half of the dozen staffers got sick as cold medicines, rapid antigen tests and N95 masks disappeared from pharmacy shelves. The remaining staffers worked across formats not only to deliver the story but also to break important news.

Photographers Han Guan Ng and Andy Wong traversed the city in sub-zero temperatures shooting photos and video of lines outside health clinics, people being loaded into ambulances, closed shops and streets gone silent. News assistant Caroline Chen stepped up to run the entire video operation.

For overcoming government secrecy and breaking news while exemplifying AP all-format cooperation in China’s COVID resurgence, Ng, Chen, Kang and Wong earn Best of the Week – 2nd winner.