After Travis Timmerman, an American who had been held in a Syrian prison for months, was found outside of Damascus, AP journalists rushed to the scene and interviewed the family that had taken him in. Timmerman had already been moved to another location, but a few hours later, correspondent Sarah El Deeb managed to parlay a late-night chance meeting with a source in a hotel cafe into an interview with Timmerman, who had been brought to the hotel while arrangements were being made for his return to the U.S.
Meanwhile, reporters in Missouri were trying to reach family members in Timmerman’s home state, seeking more information about the man and why he was in the Middle East. Phone calls and texts weren’t panning out, so VJ Nick Ingram hit the road and went to door-knock at the house of Timmerman’s mother. Ingram got the mother and step-dad to agree to an on-camera interview, which AP sent out live. He also later collected broll for an edited video package, sent in quotes that were used in the text story, took nice portraits of Timmerman’s mother, and secured permission to use handout photos from her while he was a the scene.
The story is an example of global teamwork and all-format success and shows how sometimes just getting an intrepid AP journalist in the right place can lead to good results.
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