Noozhawk Executive Editor Tom Bolton pulls back the curtain on how Noozhawk covers breaking news in this exclusive interview with Santa Barbara Talks.
Bolton, a graduate of UC Santa Barbara, talks about Noozhawk, its approach to news and its plans for the future.
“With the internet today, there’s this expectation that information is just going to be instantaneous,” Bolton said. “That doesn’t just happen. Somebody has to actually do that.”
Bolton spends much of the day and night listening to the emergency radio scanner, where he hears about local incidents.
Noozhawk is often first with breaking news stories about crime, car crashes, wildfires and other events in the community.
“We want people to think that if something serious is going on in their community, in their neighborhood, that they can come to Noozhawk, and in most cases, find out something that is going on,” Bolton said.
Bolton is an editor and owner at Noozhawk. He worked as the editor of the UCSB Daily Nexus during college and has previously worked on a variety of local news publications including the Santa Maria Times and the Santa Barbara News-Press, first under the New York Times Co. ownership.
Molina and Bolton met in 1999 when Molina was first hired at the News-Press. Bolton has managed Molina since 2014 at Noozhawk.
In this podcast, Bolton also talks about his youth, his time playing basketball in high school, and why he developed an interest in journalism. Bolton also shares details about his family and Noozhawk’s plans for the future.
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Santa Barbara Talks is owned by Josh Molina and is separate from Noozhawk. Molina intervews local decision-makers, influencers, media personalities and others to capture the news and culture of the day.