DENVER (AP) — Joe Danborn, a veteran editor for the Associated Press, has been named Rockies news editor for the cooperative.
In his new job, Danborn, who grew up in the Denver area, will oversee news coverage for Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. He’ll be based in Denver.
The appointment was announced Thursday by Interim West Editor Anna Johnson, who oversees news for 13 states west of the Rockies.
“Joe is a creative journalist who knows the Rockies,” Johnson said. “He has proven he can navigate change and build an even stronger report, and we are thrilled to have him back in Denver.”
Danborn, currently enterprise editor for AP’s southern states, was one of six editors chosen in 2008 to build and launch the first U.S. regional editing desk, part of a sweeping overhaul of the company’s editing and filing procedures.
His work has included investigations of misspent funds during the rebuilding following Hurricane Katrina, graft during and after the Gulf oil spill and sex traffickers’ exploitation of a student exchange program.
He was the lead text editor on the AP Stress Index, a data-driven project based on a proprietary formula that measured the relative effects of the economic downturn. That project won first place for enterprise in the 2010 SABEW Awards.
In addition to his enterprise role in Atlanta, Danborn served as interim news editor for Tennessee and Kentucky in 2013 and 2014, and as the South’s interim deputy regional editor from 2011 to 2013.
Danborn is a graduate of Loyola University New Orleans. He is married, with two young children.