AP hires Grattan from Reuters to cover Amazon

Global Climate and Environment News Director Peter Prengaman announced that Steven Grattan will join AP as an Amazon correspondent, based in Bogota, Colombia:

Steven comes to AP from Reuters, where he was a member of their breaking news team based in Sao Paulo.

Before working for Reuters in Brazil, Steven, a native of Northern Ireland, spent nine years in Colombia. Based in Bogota, he co-founded English-language newspaper The Bogota Post, taught journalism classes at the University of Rosario and freelanced for many top news organization.

Many of the stories Steven has done over the last decade, both as a freelancer and a reporter for Reuters, have focused on Indigenous peoples in the region, deforestation and many environmental issues, all topics he will cover in this role. He is fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese.

Adding Steven will allow AP to build on the very strong Amazon coverage of correspondent Fabiano Maisonnave and the Brazil bureau the last few years. The expanded reporting capacity comes at a critical time across the vast Amazon basin, as governments try to balance development and conservation, Indigenous peoples organize and demand land rights and illegal activities, from deforestation to raising cattle on extractive reserves and land-grabbing, are constant issues.

Steven will report to Climate news editor Dana Beltaji. He begins June 4. Please join me in welcoming him to AP.