When veteran journalist Jerry Roberts came to Santa Barbara in 2002, it was because of the News-Press.
After a 25-year career at the San Francisco Chronicle — starting as a general assignment reporter and rising to managing editor — Roberts left the storied Bay Area news organization to lead the Santa Barbara paper. Although some colleagues and friends questioned the decision, Roberts was confident it was the right move.
“The News-Press was such an important institution,” he recalled. “It’s what held the whole community together.”
As editor, Roberts felt the weight of stewardship for a publication that had shaped the Central Coast for more than a century. Readers treated the newspaper as their own, he said, even stopping him in grocery store aisles to debate editorial decisions. That sense of ownership is what made the News-Press special — and its collapse all the more devastating.
In 2006, Roberts and several other top journalists resigned in protest, citing owner Wendy McCaw’s interference in newsroom operations and breaches of journalistic ethics. The departure set off what became known as the “News-Press Meltdown” and triggered a years-long legal battle with McCaw’s company, Ampersand Publishing.
Still, Roberts never stopped caring about the institution or the community it served. He went on to launch Newsmakers with JR, an online talk show and blog covering Santa Barbara politics and public affairs. When the News-Press finally closed its doors in 2023, he described the moment as “unspeakably sad.”
Now, just two years later — and nearly two decades after his resignation — Roberts has found himself back in the fold. He serves on the advisory board for NEWSWELL, the nonprofit initiative working to transform a number of news outlets, including the News-Press. NEWSWELL recently named William Belfiore as general manager and is in the process of hiring a team of local journalists, with plans to officially relaunch the outlet in early 2026.
“It feels great,” Roberts said. “I’m really happy about the whole thing, and I hope that everyone else gets behind it as well.”
A return grounded in research
The new News-Press isn’t simply a revival — it’s a reinvention guided by community input. NEWSWELL, in partnership with the News Revenue Hub, has spent the past year engaging residents to understand what kind of local news and information Santa Barbara County needs most. That process included surveying more than 700 residents, hosting nine listening sessions across the county and conducting a detailed content analysis of local outlets.
The findings were clear: Residents want more independent, in-depth reporting. They’re looking for coverage that reflects the full diversity of Santa Barbara County and for news and information that connects people to one another while helping them take action.
Through listening sessions and survey responses, residents consistently asked for more investigative, explanatory and solutions-focused reporting — the kind of work that digs deeper than press releases and official statements.
Roberts, who participated in NEWSWELL listening sessions and weighed in on the draft report, said the current Santa Barbara news ecosystem largely covers the basics: who, what, when and where.
“What we don’t get as much are the how and why,” he explained. “The words that really jumped out at me in the study — what the researchers heard from the community — were ‘investigative, explanatory, enterprise,’ more long-form journalism that answers those questions.”
The content analysis underscored that need. Fewer than 8% of stories reviewed during the study’s two-week sample period appeared to be the result of enterprise reporting, and none of the 615 stories qualified as investigative.
Filling a void, not duplicating
Today, Santa Barbara County is served by outlets like Noozhawk, the Santa Barbara Independent, KEYT, Edhat and the Santa Maria Times. Roberts is quick to credit their work. As the research noted, Santa Barbara is hardly a news desert.
Still, there are notable gaps. Twenty years ago, the News-Press had 65 newsroom staffers. Now, Roberts estimates about a dozen people cover the county full-time across all existing local outlets. As a result, many communities and important stories go largely unexplored.
That’s where the new News-Press can play a role.
“It really needs to be additive rather than duplicative,” Roberts said. He praised local outlets for doing excellent work with limited resources but emphasized that the News-Press has an opportunity to go deeper.
Echoing the research findings, Roberts envisions more enterprise reporting — stories that explore untold issues, provide analysis and connect the dots so readers understand not just what happened, but why it matters. He also sees room for more solutions journalism.
“Ninety-eight percent of what we do in journalism is talk about the sky is falling,” he said. “But how are we going to keep the sky up? If we could get into solutions, that would be a huge service.”
Survey responses suggest the county is ready for that shift. Nearly half of all respondents at least partially agreed that local news in Santa Barbara County focuses more on problems than solutions.
A win for all
Santa Barbara County is known for its rich history, picturesque coastline, vast agricultural land, Spanish-inspired architecture and strong sense of community. Roberts, who now has three generations of family rooted in the area, feels a personal stake in its future.
“People see this is a very special place,” he said. “It’s a special place for a reason — because people who have been very communitarian-minded have designed it that way, helped build it that way and nurtured it. And there has been very vibrant local news keeping an eye on that process.
“Having that connection with local news — knowing that there’s somebody trustworthy that’s watching, sitting in meetings, paying attention and trying to find out what’s going on behind closed doors — gives people a better sense of control and confidence,” he continued.
Roberts feels optimistic about what the new News-Press can accomplish — especially knowing that NEWSWELL plans to make its reporting freely available for other outlets to republish, in the collaborative spirit of CalMatters.
“The fact that they’re willing to share it with all of the existing local news operations is crucial,” he said. “I think it’s a win-win for everybody.”
Katie Hawkins-Gaar is a veteran journalist and freelance writer. She previously worked at CNN and the Poynter Institute and now works with a variety of journalism support organizations, including the News Revenue Hub, Press Forward and Report for America. She lives in Atlanta with her family.
