Nearly 20 years after he last reported for the Santa Barbara News-Press, award-winning journalist Joshua Molina has returned to the daily publication where he launched his career — this time to lead its newsroom.
Molina, a longtime local reporter and well-known fixture of the South Coast news landscape, is the nonprofit news outlet’s new editor.
Founded in 1868, the Pulitzer-winning newspaper went bankrupt and shuttered in 2023. This year, it became part of NEWSWELL, a nonprofit whose mission is to transform local news. Molina will build out the new newsroom, including the hiring of full-time and contract reporters, as the News-Press undergoes its own transformation.
Molina, 52, grew up on the South Coast, attended public schools and graduated from Dos Pueblos High School. He found his professional calling in 1995 when he worked as an intern for the News-Press while attending Santa Barbara City College. He joined the newspaper full time in 1999, covering the Latino, health and City Hall beats.
“I have loved every second of journalism since I began at the News-Press,” said Molina, who is married and has two children. “To be back now is the greatest role I could ever imagine.”
Since his first stint at the News-Press, he has worked in a variety of journalism roles across the state, including at the San Jose Mercury News, Pacific Coast Business Times, Hispanic Business Magazine, the Santa Barbara Daily Sound and Noozhawk.
Through his news reporting and his independently produced show, Santa Barbara Talks with Josh Molina, the Goleta resident has earned a reputation as one of the most recognizable journalists on the South Coast, said William Belfiore, News-Press general manager.
“He’s an absolutely dogged reporter and a prolific writer,” Belfiore said. “There’s nobody more capable or deserving of the role than Josh.”
Jerry Roberts, the editor of the News-Press from 2002 to 2006 who now runs Santa Barbara Newsmakers, has observed Molina’s career.
“For nearly a quarter-century, my respect and admiration for him have increased,” Roberts said. “I’ve watched him grow, flourish and thrive amid hard times for our industry.”
Molina has covered myriad issues affecting Santa Barbara County, including housing, affordability, education, transportation, culture and business. He intends to continue reporting while working with Belfiore to reimagine the News-Press.
Belfiore, who joined the News-Press in October, said Molina is perfectly suited to help transform the former news stalwart into a modern digital news outlet focused on Santa Barbara County.
“He knows the history of the News-Press because he was a part of it, and he understands how to relaunch the News-Press into the future media ecosystem because he’s proven his ability to do that in his own journalism,” Belfiore said.
With a mix of reporting chops, technical knowledge and business expertise, Molina and Belfiore are setting an ambitious course to reintroduce the second-oldest newspaper in Southern California (behind the Bakersfield Californian).
A teacher at heart
In addition to his work as a journalist, Molina has been an adjunct professor at Cal State Northridge and, for the last 15 years, at Santa Barbara City College. At SBCC, he teaches the journalism program’s foundational course on newswriting and reporting and formerly advised the student newspaper, The Channels.
Anika Brodnanksy, a UC Santa Barbara junior and former student of Molina’s at SBCC, said he is shaping the next generation of journalists on the Central Coast.
“He taught me basically everything I know about journalism,” she said. “He’s really good at connecting with people and great at interviewing people.”
As to how Molina balances teaching while reporting and writing eight to 10 stories each week, he says it’s important that he practice what he preaches — “and when you love what you do, it never feels like work,” he added.
Molina’s reporting and teaching exemplify his stewardship for his hometown, Roberts said.
“Josh possesses the most important personal quality of every gifted journalist: He cares,” Roberts said. “He understands what an honor and privilege it is to be entrusted with the real-life stories of real people.”
From the archives: Molina’s News-Press legacy
More than 25 years ago, reporter Joshua Molina wrote an unusual column for the News-Press.
On May 12, 2000, the presses at the Goleta printing facility broke overnight. By the time repairs were made, several hours later, most of the News-Press’ distribution team couldn’t get the newspapers delivered; the paperboys and papergirls were already at school.
So newsroom staff — Molina included — sprang into action, loading papers into their cars and hand-delivering them to residents.
Molina delivered over 100 newspapers to subscribers in Santa Barbara’s Westside neighborhood, including one thrown successfully to a third-story apartment.
A day later, Molina reflected on seeing residents’ excitement after finally receiving that day’s paper.
Our news arrives in a different format in 2025, but its importance to the community remains the same.
The column he wrote identifies Molina as “reporter and sometime paperboy.” He now adds a third title to his resume at the Santa Barbara News-Press: editor.
A local news homecoming
While at the News-Press in the 1990s and early 2000s, Molina earned a reputation for hard-nosed reporting, writing explanatory stories that broke down complex topics.
His investigation into elder abuse at the then-Beverly La Cumbre nursing home in Santa Barbara led to a landmark legal judgment and eventual sale of the company that owned the facility. The investigation with fellow reporter Scott Hadly included more than 100 stories and won a public service award from the California Newspaper Publishers Association.
He earned top CNPA honors twice more while at the News-Press — in breaking news for his coverage of a deadly vehicular rampage in Isla Vista and again in public service for exposing a conflict of interest at the Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District that resulted in management changes.
Those stories and countless others from News-Press reporters were lost when the newspaper shut down two years ago. But NEWSWELL is working with a team of data specialists to salvage the digital archives.
“The preservation and return of the News-Press archives will also give new life to the countless important stories of our community history that have been unavailable,” Molina said.
Molina resigned from the newspaper in 2006 after a newsroom protest and walkout in opposition to editorial interference by then-owner Wendy McCaw. Roberts, who was editor at the time; columnist Barney Brantingham; investigative reporter Melinda Burns and more than a dozen other journalists left amid the turmoil.
Molina said the struggles of that time gave rise to a decades-long decline in local news resources.
“Today, every journalist in the region is overworked and underpaid,” he said. “Newsrooms at current staffing levels simply cannot get to all the stories.”
Despite industry struggles, Molina views the News-Press’ future with clarity and optimism.
“The team we will build at the News-Press is here to enhance, amplify and provide something new,” he said. “The local press core is all in this together, and more reporters throughout the county makes our community stronger, more informed and more capable of positive change.”
Brodnansky, Molina’s former student, said he’s the right person for the job. “He’s the most wonderful professor, and he is one of the most talented journalists in the area,” she said.
Roberts, who once held the role Molina is stepping into, celebrated the move, saying: “It’s a great day for journalism in Santa Barbara.”
Molina can be reached at jmolina@newspress.com. General news or information can be sent to news@newspress.com.
Freelance journalist Mark Nothaft contributed to this story.