Changes at the Journal include new city editor
The Albuquerque Journal’s newsroom has undergone some changes.
Martin Salazar is the new city editor of the Journal, replacing Nick Pappas, who has retired.
Salazar has a varied background in journalism that includes everything from reporting to publishing. He is a University of New Mexico graduate who originally joined the Journal in 2004 as a reporter. He became an assistant city editor in 2010, but left the next year to return to his hometown of Las Vegas, N.M., as managing editor of the Las Vegas Optic. He moved up the ranks there to become publisher.
He returned to the Journal in 2017, first covering City Hall and then moving to the editorial board as assistant editorial page editor.
Scott Turner, who was publisher of El Defensor Chieftain newspaper in Socorro, is the new assistant editorial page editor. He worked for newspapers in Alabama before moving to Socorro in 2015.
Salazar has announced some changes to his city desk reporting staff.
Longtime Journal reporter Jessica Dyer will cover City Hall and the county government, and Steve Knight will cover higher education, including the University of New Mexico. Knight joined the Journal in April after covering the news in Texas since 2010, most recently at the Lufkin Daily News. Dyer has been reporting for the Journal since 2007, covering such beats as sports, retail business and, most recently, higher education.
Meanwhile, Stephen Montoya has joined the business desk, and will cover retail, commercial real estate and hospitality. He joins the Journal after three years with the Rio Rancho Observer, most recently as the assistant editor.