Noozhawk is making some major changes in 2024, all designed to deliver even more of the indispensable local news you rely on and deserve.
As of Jan. 1, executive editor Tom Bolton is moving up to a newly created editor in chief position as he steps back from the day-to-day management of our news operation.
Tom joined Noozhawk in 2012 when he came aboard as executive editor and took over the leadership of our intrepid news team.
He’s largely responsible for the meteoric growth in our readership over the last decade as he refocused our reporting on breaking news while expanding our coverage to encompass all of Santa Barbara County.
Under Tom’s direction and cultivation, we added Janene Scully as our North County editor and Josh Molina as a staff writer, promoted Giana Magnoli to managing editor, and started a sports section with Barry Punzal as its first editor and Diego Sandoval succeeding him.
To help convince Tom to take over the news side back then, I asked him to become my business partner. Then the two of us hatched a plan to go out and get some local investors so we could take Noozhawk to the next level.
As a result of those investors, all of whom have been paid back, we were able to bring on Kim Clark as our business development vice president running sales and marketing, and our third partner.
Noozhawk would not be here today without them.
In his new role, Tom will be writing more in-depth news features, something he enjoys as a journalist and repeatedly has tried to squeeze in. He’s quite good at it, and the addition fulfills a long-desired objective of ours to dig deeper into some of the stories we report.
As one of Noozhawk’s owners, Tom will continue to be involved in the exhilarating challenges of running a small business, but this change should get him a little more time for fishing and grandpa duty — two longtime goals of his own.
Along with that move, we’re excited to promote Giana to executive editor after a stellar stint as managing editor.
Giana has been with Noozhawk since she graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 2009, and I’m very proud of how she has grown as a journalist, as a leader, and as an innovator.
I’m not at all surprised, however. I knew in our very first interview that she was capable of just such a responsibility, and she has earned the title and the opportunity.
Giana has been a deft manager of our small team, and its strengths and idiosyncrasies, as well as the inherent demands and challenges of a 24/7 internet news cycle.
She also has an astounding awareness of what local governments and agencies are up to at any given moment, and how Noozhawk can best report on and explain those activities to you.
Among the projects she’s currently planning is a comprehensive exploration of local housing issues.
In addition to her local knowledge, Giana’s engaged in journalism on a larger scale, serving on Cal Poly’s Journalism Department advisory board; is active with the Poynter Institute; and is a past fellow of the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism.
To take advantage of the depth of local news experience that Noozhawk has, we’re promoting Josh to the new position of South County editor.
Most readers know Josh from his ubiquitous government and K-12 education reporting, and his popular Santa Barbara Talks podcasts. But he’s also a talented mentor and instructor in both the Santa Barbara City College and CSU Northridge journalism departments.
He will still be reporting, but we’re shifting some of our professional development duties to him so he can share his skills, experience and tutelage with our staff and interns.
The indefatigable Janene will continue as our North County editor, but is taking on more management of overall staff assignments and editing. As one of the most experienced journalists in the county, infusing more of her perspective into our system is crucial to keeping us growing.
We expect to add another reporter in early 2024, and Janene’s supervision of that position will enable us to significantly expand our coverage of the Santa Maria, Lompoc and Santa Ynez valleys.
As I noted in my Dec. 29 Best of Bill column, we have an immediate opening for a full-time local news reporter, and may be adding a second later in 2024.
If you think you have what it takes, a message that must include a cover letter, a résumé and a news reporting portfolio can be emailed to gmagnoli@noozhawk.com.
We also have openings for a full-time advertising sales and marketing representative, and at least a part-time ad sales rep based in the North County. Inquiries should be emailed jointly to Kim at kim.clark@noozhawk.com and sales manager Sheridan Taphorn at staphorn@noozhawk.com.
I’m proud of how far Noozhawk has come since we launched in 2007, but I can’t wait for this next year.
No other news organization in Santa Barbara County has a more experienced, more professional — or, frankly, more unbiased — news team, and we are uniquely positioned to do what we do best.
Day and night, you count on us to produce deep, impactful journalism that informs and strengthens our community, and we’re excited to do even more of it in 2024.
We cover almost every community in Santa Barbara County and the issues that matter most to local residents, but doing so is expensive.
We are committed to keeping Noozhawk’s news free to read, without paywalls or restrictions, and we rely on our advertisers, sponsors and readers to help us keep going and growing.
If you’ve been thinking about supporting our work, there’s no time like today to make a financial contribution. Nearly every dollar we raise goes right back into our news coverage, and you see the results of it every single day.
Thank you for making Noozhawk possible, and Happy New Year!