The Desert Sun has gained a new staff reporter: Paul Albani-Burgio, who will cover the City of Palm Springs and breaking news across the Coachella Valley.
Albani-Burgio comes to the desert from Englewood, Colorado, where he last worked as the community editor for Colorado Community Media. There, he served as a general assignment reporter, writing roughly six news and feature stories a week for newspapers covering the suburban communities of Jefferson County, including Golden and Arvada.
At the same time, he also worked as a freelance writer for the website Denverite, pitching and writing stories about the Denver restaurant and bar scene and the impact of COVID-19 on the city.
In early 2020, Albani-Burgio, like journalists across the globe, witnessed the pandemic completely alter the nature of “nearly all” the stories he was working on.
“I went from barely having heard of the virus to writing the word “COVID-19” constantly throughout the day as we chronicled the virus’ impacts on everything from those dying of it to local businesses to events that had to be canceled,” he said.
But wearing several hats — as freelancer, editor and reporter — also came naturally to Albani-Burgio. His many roles required that he stay organized, prioritize tasks and become a faster writer: a skill he knows will be helpful in covering breaking news.
“I really liked working as an editor because it gave me a new perspective on the nuts and bolts of reporting and writing — particularly being clear and concise — that will be helpful as I return to reporting full-time,” he said.
Before Colorado Community Media, Albani-Burgio served as the editor of Eater Denver in 2019, until the site was scaled back in news coverage by its parent company, Vox Media. He has also written for other Colorado newspapers, including the Loveland Reporter-Herald, Longmont Times-Call, the Fort Morgan Times and the Boulder Daily Camera.
Albani-Burgio graduated from the University of Missouri, specifically the Missouri School of Journalism, in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism.
After spending most of his life in Colorado, Albani-Burgio is looking forward to living in Palm Springs — which has a unique landscape, he noted, made up of both mountains (which he is “very used to”) and desert vistas (which he is “most definitely not”).
“I have been struck so far by how engaged, involved in and passionate about their city so many Palm Springs residents seem to be, and am excited to have the opportunity to report in that kind of community,” he said.
So far, Albani-Burgio has been focused on getting to know the major figures related to his beat, and the past stories that have defined that beat.
“As I get further into the job, I hope to focus on stories that make a difference to the everyday life of people in Palm Springs and the valley, and highlight the ways decisions being made in the city council and other city halls of power, which can sometimes seem hard to understand or just far away, will actually impact and ultimately matter to our readers,” he said.
Of course, after working at Eater and other Denver publications, food and restaurant-related stories are also on the table for Albani-Burgio.
“I plan to write about restaurant openings and closings and other food news for The Desert Sun, in addition to my main beats,” he said. “It sounds like Palm Springs has a great food scene.”
You can reach out to Paul on Twitter at @albaniburgiop and via email at PAlbaniBurgio@gannett.com.
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