This month, we are welcoming Martin Albornoz, who will serve as NEWSWELL’s general manager for California. In this role, Martin will lead the way as we reimagine future-focused nonprofit journalism across the state. He’ll be an advocate and ambassador for our newsrooms — and will help them grow their community support systems.
Albornoz’s 30-year career in journalism began after college when he launched a successful magazine for young Latinos and Latinas. A few years later, he created a community paper that became the second-largest alternative weekly in Los Angeles. Since then, his passion for local news has burned bright. His professional experience includes stops at community journalism organizations in Orange County, Las Vegas, the Southwest and more. Most recently, he led an L.A.-based Latinx news website called CALÓ News.
We asked Albornoz to share his thoughts on the future of nonprofit journalism and why he’s so passionate about this work.
What is meaningful to you about NEWSWELL’s mission?
Albornoz: As someone who’s seen the rise and fall of community journalism from the inside and out, I’m worried about journalism’s existential crisis. I’m mostly concerned about the spread of news deserts in rural and marginalized communities, where the lack of trustworthy and reliable news sometimes leads to a certain cynicism where misinformation can run rampant. If we don’t reestablish sustainable trustworthy journalism in our country, starting city by city, the future of our democracy is in peril. I see NEWSWELL’s work as paramount in helping solve this crisis.
What goals do you have as NEWSWELL’s general manager for California?
Albornoz: Over the years, I’ve worked in many different markets — large, small, urban and rural. I’ve learned from the success and failures of different publications and their publishers and managers. My goal in this new role is to build out a repertoire of proven products, revenue strategies and sales tactics tailored to each specific market. I want to launch quickly, fail fast, learn and iterate successful solutions, working closely with local stakeholders and our NEWSWELL team. Ultimately, I want to build customizable plans that can be scaled in each market in order to create sustainable business models.
Why is it so important that nonprofit newsrooms have sustainable business plans?
Albornoz: We are currently at an inflection point. The old model of funding journalism is untenable, but the nonprofit newsroom model has been gaining momentum and hitting its stride. Recently, nonprofits have received major philanthropic support and are in a honeymoon period. But this will change, especially in light of recent federal funding cuts and the growing likelihood of recession. To continue to build on the foundation that’s been established, we need to think of new revenue strategies. These may be completely different from traditional advertising and subscription models, but in order to keep newsrooms healthy and growing, we need to innovate and offer new solutions to our business partners and readers. This is the kind of thinking and experimentation that I believe ASU and NEWSWELL are committed to doing.
What else excites you about the future of community news?
Albornoz: As much as my focus will be on revenue and sustainability, I am also really excited to work with young journalists who are bringing new ideas to the table. My optimism in the future is renewed every time I meet new reporters who have a facility with technology, multimedia and fresh ways of telling stories, gathering data and creating content. I also love how citizen journalism is filling the gap left by defunct news outlets. I want to create a process by which we can teach aspiring reporters the ins and outs of good journalism while allowing their enthusiasm and spirit to reinvigorate our newsrooms. I want to empower journalists to be journalists and leave the infrastructure and revenue building to us.
This update originally appeared in our Aug. 21, 2025, newsletter, which came from the NEWSWELL team. This version has been lightly edited for clarity.