Richard Martin
Richard joins Lookout Santa Cruz with a wealth of leadership and editing experience at top newsrooms across the country. He spent the past four years helping build and lead another successful digital local news startup, The Baltimore Banner, which earned numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, during his tenure.
He sees his move to Lookout as continuing his mission to build on Lookout’s nationally recognized start, as Eugene-Springfield has launched and other Lookouts are in the offing.
Previously, he worked as an editor at the Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun, Tampa Bay Times and the Seattle Times. Coverage that he led was twice recognized as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News, first for the 2015 death of Freddie Gray and resulting citywide unrest in Baltimore, then in 2019 for coverage of the boat fire off the Santa Barbara coast that killed 34, including six from Santa Cruz County.
This marks a return to the Central Coast for Richard. Earlier in his career, he spent five years as sports editor, then city editor of The Californian in Salinas. An avid distance runner, hiker and tennis player, he looks forward to long runs up and down the Monterey Bay and hikes with his wife in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Big Sur and elsewhere. He welcomes any and all suggestions.
“I’m thrilled to be coming to Santa Cruz to continue my mission to save local news with new, innovative models like Lookout and community-centered and informed approaches to coverage,” Richard says. “My goal is to help Lookout build on its incredible, award-winning work of the past five years and become an even more vibrant and indispensable trusted source for local news and information.”