Speed set the AP apart from competitors after South Korea’s president made a shocking declaration of martial law late in the night, only to revoke it hours later after an uproar.
The team Seoul and across Asia delivered nuanced, visually dynamic stories before competitors, over and over.
It started with a late-night news alert from reporter Kim Tong-hyung about the declaration. Multiple alerts followed into the next morning, repeatedly and handily beating competitors like The New York Times, which has its regional headquarters and a large editorial staff in Seoul.
Video journalists Yong Ho Kim and Yong Jun Chang rushed to parliament to establish crucial live shots. The initial live video outside parliament quickly was viewed more 500,000 times on YouTube. That was supplemented by roving live video from the streets of Seoul showing confrontations.
Asia planning editor Jung Yoon Kim helped coordinate from Bangkok while turning around edits and securing live permissions. Photographers Ahn Young-joon and Lee Jin-man in Seoul captured and filed iconic shots of the moment when soldiers and lawmakers began arriving. Still before dawn, Koreas news director Foster Klug wrote a fast What To Know story that was regularly updated as news developed.
In the hours and days following the declaration, correspondent Hyung-jin Kim and Kim Tong-hyung combined on richly reported stories based on their decades of experience covering South Korean politics. From Bangkok, writer David Rising provided a dramatic tick-tock of the standoff at parliament and a look at the moment made famous where an opposition spokeswoman grabbed the rifle barrel of a soldier.
AP secured all-format interviews with her and with the opposition leader, who will likely be the next president. Jennifer McDermott, who was taking vacation in Seoul after covering a global plastics conference, jumped in and produced text, video and photos on foreign tourists’ reactions to the decree.
The coordination went beyond news: AP360’s Ciaran McQuillan did five video explainers and provided live video, as did Asia sales vice president YK Chan, who was in town.
The judges were impressed by the team’s consistent speed wins and coordination across formats to deliver a digital friendly package to customers and AP’s digital platforms.
For delivering a comprehensive look with numerous speed wins at a seminal moment in South Korea’s history, AP’s team covering its latest declaration of martial law earns this week’s Best of the AP — First Winner.
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