Today marks the first day of NewsMatch, our annual end-of-year fundraiser.
More than 400 nonprofit newsrooms across the country participate in this matching gift campaign. From November 1 to December 31 all donations, including recurring monthly gifts, up to $1,000 will be matched by the NewsMatch Foundation.
During NewsMatch, Inside the Newsroom will be highlighting what makes our newsroom unique.
Starting with our staff.
Voice of OC is Orange County’s only nonprofit newsroom bringing residents daily news on key issues that impact resident’s quality of life.
Since 2009, our goal has been to empower OC with free information by removing the paywall — a barrier preventing the public access to news.
Our staff also publishes a robust weekend edition featuring a calendar of free weekend activities, visual stories and a weekly roster of pets up for adoption at local shelters.
Over the next two months you will get to know our editor, reporters and photographers who work tirelessly day-in and day-out to bring readers free civic news from across the county – covering everything from to city hall to transportation, from the coast to the mountains.
Championing Accountability
Norberto Santana, Jr., is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Voice of OC. An award-winning columnist and investigative reporter, he is a pioneer in the field of nonprofit journalism.
Santana is most proud of the newsroom’s ability to respond to community emergencies, like the pandemic, the oil spill off the coast of Huntington Beach, wildfires, hurricanes or the Tustin Hangar Fire.
In addition, he is a strong advocate of the newsroom’s role as a taxpayer watchdog – pointing to stadium coverage that helped thwart two different rushed deals to sell off public land to special interests in addition to ongoing accountability coverage on issues like homelessness response, public power and Covid contracting.
[Read: Santana: Finding Orange County’s Next CEO Just Got Complicated]
[Read: Santana: Washington Warned Us To Skate Through The National Political Fracas]
[Read: Santana: The Voices of Iranian Women Keep Resonating at Protests in OC and Across The Globe]
Prior to founding the Voice of OC in 2009, he was a lead investigative reporter for the Orange County Register, focusing on county government. In his journalistic career, Santana spent nearly two decades covering local governments across Southern California in his previous roles as a staff writer at the San Diego Union Tribune and San Bernardino County Sun.
Santana started in the field as an apprentice reporter with Congressional Quarterly in Washington, D.C. covering daily floor action in the U.S. Congress prior to covering the territorial Senate for the U.S. Virgin Islands Daily News.
In addition to serving on national journalism boards – like the Institute for Nonprofit News and Investigative Reporters and Editors – Santana also has been working with Chapman University since 2017 to train apprentice civic reporters – today serving as an editor-in-residence helping mentor Chapman/Voice Collegiate News Service covering cities across OC.
“Journalism puts people in a position to take action,” Santana said.
“Nowhere is that more visible than in nonprofit journalism,” he added.
“It’s been an honor – as well as the adventure of a lifetime – to help lead a community coalition forging a vibrant newsroom like Voice of OC, which offers OC residents the deepest, free archive of civic news in our county – 15 years and running!
Favorite Book: For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemmingway
What is your favorite movie? Kelly’s Heroes
What is your favorite food? Arroz Moro, Cuban Black rice and beans
How did you join Voice of OC?
“I founded Voice of OC along with a coalition of legal, journalistic and labor leaders in 2009 in response to the Great Recession as well as the ongoing crisis in local news. I left the OC Register after a career covering government in Washington, D.C., across So Cal and San Diego, motivated by the advantages of a nonprofit approach to news, treating the newsroom as a civic trust for all readers in OC to connect with over local quality of life issues.”
What is your favorite part about being on the Voice of OC team?
“I enjoy watching residents engage with news copy as well as offering training opportunities in accountability news to younger students and mentoring apprentice journalists across our region, forging a coalition of the questioning — actively overseeing our local governments, elected and appointed officials.”
What is your favorite story that you’ve covered for Voice of OC?What is your favorite story that you’ve covered for Voice of OC?
“There’s so many. It’s impossible to pick.
Our coverage has been key in Anaheim protecting local taxpayers from two proposed stadium deals – a decade apart – that were later exposed as lopsided deals.
During Covid, our team was resilient through some very tough months, years, to get residents key information in real-time so they could make their own decisions about ongoing events – with the coverage even helping officials better target relief efforts.
Events this year also have proven the value of our Covid bailout fund watchdog coverage – stories that earned us official complaints and the nickname, Noise of OC.
Whether it’s oil spills, wildfires or elections, it’s inspiring to watch our newsroom leaders continue to excel in getting residents real time, accurate and engaging news stories when they need it the most.”
What makes nonprofit news so important to Orange County?
“As opposed to a page-view focus on news production, nonprofit newsrooms like Voice of OC have a special opportunity to enable residents to create change, armed with real-time news about local quality of life issues, which oftentimes get missed by today’s shrinking corporate newsrooms. The results are clear to see on a regular basis across OC.”
Shedding Light on Corruption
Spencer Custodio is the Civic Editor for the Voice of OC, and started as one of the newsroom’s first interns in 2010. An Orange County native, Custodio initially covered the cities of Fullerton and Irvine.
His focus turned to Anaheim City Hall in late 2018. Throughout the following year, he detailed the shadowy Angel Stadium land sale proposal – a sale that was ultimately canned after it got caught up in a federal corruption probe.
[Read: Anaheim City Council Cans Angel Stadium Deal After FBI Corruption Probe Into City Hall]
[Read: Ex-Anaheim Mayor Sidhu Agrees to Plead Guilty to Corruption Charges]
Favorite Book: Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury
What is your favorite movie? Apocalypse Now
What is your favorite food? Adobo
How did you join Voice of OC?
“Through the intern program when Voice of OC launched in 2010.”
What is your favorite part about being on the Voice of OC team?
“Teamwork, camaraderie and the various stories we get to cover throughout the county — from quality of life issues to accountability coverage.”
What is your favorite story that you’ve covered for Voice of OC?
“Anaheim’s attempted sale of Angel Stadium that eventually saw an FBI corruption probe surface, forcing the deal to stop.”
What makes nonprofit news so important to Orange County?
“It covers different aspects throughout Orange County that would otherwise go uncovered as the corporate papers institute layoffs amid shrinking budgets.”
