NEWS Staff Report
The San Benito News has named Jacob Lopez as editor.
Jacob Lopez
Lopez is a journalist with seven years experience in covering local Valley news, technology and the electronic entertainment industry.
In the past, Lopez has written for the Port Isabel-South Padre Press, the Padre Parade and the McAllen Monitor’s entertainment page.
In addition to his work with local newspapers, Lopez has written for online publications such as VentureBeat, BYTE Magazine, Gamasutra’s Game Career Guide and GamePro where he worked closely alongside industry veterans like Gina Smith and Dan “Shoe” Hsu.
Lopez began his work with the San Benito News as a freelance writer in 2009 where he met with former Managing Editor Michael Rodriguez. In Sept. 2014 Lopez became a full-time staff writer for the News.
“Mike, he did a lot for helping the News grow. He built a lot of strong relationships with people throughout the community… and that’s something I hope to continue,” Lopez said.
Already, Lopez is looking toward the future, saying he hopes to broaden the reach of the News in nearby communities. “I want to try to expand our coverage of areas like Rio Hondo and Los Fresnos. Those are two cities that are near us and they kind of go largely unnoticed” and under-served, he said. “I definitely want to grow the community involvement,” he said.
When Rodriguez announced his departure in November, Lopez served as a stand-in until officially chosen as editor by Publisher Ray Quiroga.
“It feels great, it came as kind of a surprise—ok, a major surprise,” he joked. “But, so far it’s pretty cool being in charge of something that so many people in San Benito have come to love,” he said.
Lopez takes the responsibility he’s been entrusted with seriously, though. “You really have to focus on serving your readers more than anyone. The reader really comes first. If we’re not covering things to the extent that they can be then we’re doing them (the readers) a disservice,” he said.
Reflecting after a week in the editor’s chair, Lopez said, “I want to thank Ray and Mike for having enough faith in me to do this.”
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