The Guardian appoints new correspondents

The Guardian has announced five new roles, including its first-ever Caribbean correspondent, a South America correspondent, two Africa correspondents and a new UK health and inequalities correspondent, aiming to provide Guardian readers around the world with more news, analysis and features from each of these regions.

Speaking of the appointments, the Guardian commented:

• Natricia Duncan becomes the Guardian’s first-ever Caribbean correspondent based in Jamaica. Natricia has written for national media in her native St Vincent and the Grenadines, including Searchlight SVG, and later for the Voice and the Guardian in the UK on immigration and race equality issues. She has also worked as a communications strategist at the Commonwealth Secretariat, supporting political missions in the Caribbean and Africa and managing a Commonwealth-wide network of young correspondents.
• Tiago Rogero joins as South America correspondent based in Brazil. Tiago created the Querino Project podcast, which won Brazil's most important journalistic award in human rights, the Vladimir Herzog, last year. He was previously creative manager at Rádio Novelo and a reporter at O Globo, O Estado de S. Paulo and BandNews FM. Tiago also created and hosted the narrative podcasts Vidas Negras and Negra Voz, focusing on Afro-Brazilian life.
• Eromo Egbejule is the Guardian’s new West Africa correspondent based in Ivory Coast. Eromo has served as Africa editor at Al Jazeera English, leading a network of freelancers across the continent to deliver coverage of multiple elections and conflicts, profiles on arts and sports, and series on intra-Africa migration and identity. He was previously West Africa correspondent and editor at the Africa Report and has written for the Guardian.
• Carlos Mureithi is the Guardian’s new East Africa correspondent based in Kenya. Carlos joins from the Associated Press where he is Africa climate and environment correspondent. His previous roles include East Africa correspondent at Quartz, East Africa editor at the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and Africa correspondent at The Christian Science Monitor. His work has also been published by Reuters, Al Jazeera and The New York Times.
• Tobi Thomas is the Guardian’s new UK health and inequalities correspondent. She was awarded the Scott Trust bursary in 2019 and has previously worked as a news reporter and data journalist.

The Guardian says all four international correspondents will join in the the coming months, with Tobi Thomas already in post in the UK. The news follows the appointments of Adria Walker and Melissa Hellmann to Guardian US’s race and equity team at the end of last year. The publisher says the new roles are part of the Scott Trust Legacies of Enslavement programme and will strengthen the overall aims by reporting on previously underreported regions and communities. Recruitment is ongoing for a Manchester-based community affairs correspondent to expand the Guardian’s reporting of race in the north west and beyond.

Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief, Guardian News & Media, says: “The response to the Scott Trust’s findings last March was a watershed moment for the Guardian. The long-term commitment set out in the restorative justice plan is vital in our ongoing efforts to address these historical wrongs and to report more deeply on the lives and experiences of people of colour around the world. Our new Caribbean, South America and Africa correspondents will cover the urgent stories and issues affecting communities in these regions today, and with a depth and breadth rarely seen in the western media.”

Natricia Duncan, the Guardian’s first-ever Caribbean correspondent, says: “Coming from a small island in the Caribbean, I understand the importance of giving voice to those who feel marginalised and invisible. Despite its rich cultural tapestry, dynamic leaders and complex environmental and socio-economic challenges, the region is often misunderstood, misrepresented, or ignored by global media. It is a great privilege to be part of the Guardian’s historic move to ensure the Caribbean gets the coverage it deserves.”

The Guardian added that Cotton Capital, its journalism series on how transatlantic slavery shaped the Guardian, Manchester, Britain and the world, will publish new stories in the weeks ahead. This includes new Guardian documentary Buried, which explores the discovery of a vast burial ground on the island of St Helena – one of the most significant traces of the transatlantic slave trade in the world – as well as stories exploring memorialisation and culture in the Sea Islands and Jamaica.

The Scott Trust has also announced the appointment of three additional members to its external advisory panel who meet quarterly to guide the restorative programme of work, focusing on descendant communities from regions of the world that were most impacted. The new members are:

• Antonia Canal. Antonia is the programme & engagement manager at the People’s History Museum and has strong networks with grassroot community organisations across the north west of the UK through her roles at various cultural institutions.
• Michael Allen. Michael formerly worked for the National Park Service in South Carolina for over 37 years, including as executive director for The Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor. He was also a founding board member of the International African American Museum (IAAM).
• Naketa West. Naketa is a global project management professional with over 15 years experience in human and social development. She is currently a project coordinator at The Trust for the Americas.

They join previously announced advisory panel members Dr. Cassandra Gooptar, Professor Keith Magee, Professor Olivette Otele and Professor Matthew Smith.

Ebony Riddell Bamber, programme director, the Scott Trust legacies of enslavement programme, says: “I’m thrilled to welcome Antonia, Michael and Naketa to the external advisory panel who will help oversee our long-term programme of restorative justice. The focus for the period ahead is to carry out further engagement with descendant communities and begin to develop concrete options for partnerships, as well as continuing to work closely with the Scott Trust, our advisory panel, and connecting with other organisations and institutions advancing restorative and reparative justice efforts."

Over the past year, The Guardian Foundation says it has expanded its journalism training scheme to include three extra bursaries reserved specifically for Black aspiring journalists in the UK and is now progressing its second cohort of applications for 2024. Guardian Australia launched its first journalism cadetship aimed at increasing diversity in the newsroom, while a similar scheme is currently in development with Guardian US, added the publisher.

According to the Guardian, readers have described its response as 'a necessary step forward', with a special webinar drawing nearly 4,500 views and the British Journalism Awards noting how “few publications would be brave enough to subject themselves to such scrutiny", following a highly commended win for Cotton Capital in the social affairs, diversity & inclusion category.

For more information on the project, please visit the programme webpage here.