Editor to focus on people behind stories

Chris Quintana, the Daily Lobo’s culture editor, will be the newspaper’s next editor-in-chief.

The UNM Student Publications Board appointed Quintana Friday, and he will take over May 1.

“I feel like I’ve been handed a big responsibility. Ever since Friday, there’s just things on my shoulders that haven’t been there before,” he said. “I’m just nervous that I won’t be able to live up to the legacy that the last editor left. At the same time, I’m excited to reach for that and be the best editor that I can be.”

Pat Lohmann, the Lobo’s current editor-in-chief, said he’s confident in Quintana’s ability to produce a great paper.

“Chris had, clearly, a successful year as culture editor, and I can’t wait to see how that is reflected across every page of the paper,” he said. “Chris is deeply passionate about the Lobo and journalism, and he is more than qualified to take on this endeavor.”

Quintana has served as the editor-in-chief of Conceptions Southwest, a student-produced literary magazine, for the last year. He said the experience prepared him for the responsibilities of his new position at the Daily Lobo, even though the two publications are significantly different.

“(At CSW) you get content in on a certain day and then you have the whole semester to edit that content,” he said. “It’s a little different than being at the Lobo. But I am used to crisis situations. There were a lot of crises at CSW.”

Lobo readers can expect a familiar product under his leadership, although he would like to put more of a personal focus on stories, Quintana said.

“Ideally, I would like it not to change that much. I want the readers to have a consistent experience,” he said. “They can expect more story-driven articles by the news, culture and sports desks and see maybe a little bit more emphasis on the people involved in the stories that are happening. But other than that, we’re still going to put out the news in the best possible way.”