New reporters on Denver Post biz desk

A reorganization in the Denver Post newsroom means that three new reporters are joining its business desk, according to an e-mail distributed in the newsroom by editor Greg Moore and posted here.

The three new reporters are Elizabeth Aguilera, Karen Rouse and David Migoya. They will begin next week, and they are taking the spots of Will Shanley, who left for a PR job; and Greg Griffin, who is at Columbia University for a year on a sabbatical. In addition, Julie Dunn is on maternity leave.

The business desk “team leader” is Steve McMillan, a former assistant business editor. Former Post business editor Stephen Keating left earlier this year to run a political coverage web site for the Post. Also, assistant business editor Christine Tatum, the current national SPJ president, is leaving business news to work on multimedia projects at the paper.

Aguilera is a native of Southern California and has covered urban affairs for The Denver Post. She has reported from Cuba and Mexico, and she also wrote about the devastation of Hurricane Katrina by traveling to New Orleans in 2005. She’s also written for the Orange County Register and the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

Denver alternative weekly Westword named Migoya its best daily newspaper investigative reporter in 2004, writing, “He’s the journalistic equivalent of a stalker, pursuing every stray fact until he makes it his own. His reports about the meatpacking industry have been some of the most comprehensive — and disturbing — to have appeared about any subject in years, and they seemed particularly prescient when the mad-cow scare broke a few months later. He’s equally strong when it comes to long-term projects and breaking news.”

Migoya is an original member of The Post’s projects team, established in 2000 to take on long- and short-range enterprise and investigative stories. He’s a graduate of the City University of New York and has worked as an investigative reporter for nearly two decades. His work has been recognized by a variety of national and regional organizations including IRE, National Headliner and SPJ.Â

Rouse has covered education for the Post for the past four years and has been at the paper for seven. She has also reported from Douglas County and Arapahoe County. Last year, she was named print journalist of the year by the Colorado Association of Black Journalists.

Says Tatum: “The moves affecting business are GREAT! Three new — and very experienced — Post reporters are diving into that section. They will do fabulous work. Migoya, in particular, is super with FOI, and he has spent a lot of time paying attention to the local nonprofit community — a sector that hasn’t received as much time and attention in our business pages. Aguilera has covered a lot of ethnic communities (she speaks Spanish), and that will help us tap into business stories we haven’t gotten…Rouse has extensive experience covering education (and speaks Spanish fluently) — another public sector where reporters don’t always make the connection to business. She’s awesome.

“Essentially, I’m heartened because it’s time for more journalists to break down the barriers they often build around their beats. You and I know that EVERYTHING is potentially a business story.”