The AP’s coverage of Venezuela’s back-to-back magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes delivered the first authoritative reporting and established the AP as the global leader on one of the year’s biggest breaking news stories through first-to-air reporting, powerful visual journalism and exceptional teamwork.
Within minutes, video journalist Juan Pablo Arraez went live from his apartment as the quake unfolded while simultaneously recording a video dispatch capturing the moment. His live shot was on the air 90 minutes before any other news agency, immediately setting AP apart. Even as members of our own team dealt with damage to their homes and the uncertainty facing their families, they never stopped reporting. Photographer Ariana Cubillos headed straight into the streets to document the destruction. Regina Garcia Cano reported remotely from Bogotá, where she had been covering Colombia’s elections, before undertaking an arduous 24-hour journey back to Caracas with Bogotá-based photographer Fernando Vergara.
The wider Venezuela and Latin America team immediately sprang into action, activating AP’s trusted network of freelancers that has been cultivated across the country over many years. Reporters, photographers, video journalists, producers and text editors from across the region seamlessly joined the effort—coordinating coverage, verifying information, writing, editing and sourcing critical user-generated video through their deep regional knowledge and contacts.
The ensuing staff-wide effort included a Spanish-language live blog tracking developments, U.S. reporters jumping in with late-night writing and monitoring Venezuelan television, and the International Desk shepherding overnight coverage. Other teams produced an interactive that explained the unprecedented double quakes, an investigation into whether construction standards contributed to building collapses, reports on relief efforts within Venezuelan communities in Florida and Texas and a widely used guide on how to help.
AP’s reporting and visuals quickly became the global reference point with live shots and video carried extensively by leading news organizations. In a CNN interview, Arraez was able to showcase AP’s own reporting and imagery to reinforce AP’s position as the coverage leader. Audience data made the impact clear and the story remained among AP customers’ three most-used text reports every day after the earthquake struck.
The judges were struck by how staff covered the story with seamless cross-border teamwork to produce exclusive visuals and authoritative reporting that became the world’s definitive account of the disaster.
For showcasing AP’s reach with exemplary speed, coordination, resource allocation and insight, Juan Pablo Arraez, Ariana Cubillos, Regina Garcia Cano, Jorge Rueda, Matias Delacroix, Andry Rincon, Pedro Mattey, and Fernando Vergara win this week’s Best of the AP – First Winner.
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