| Type | Alternative weekly |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | News Time Media Group |
| Editor | Camillia Lanham |
| Founded | 1972 |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | Santa Maria, California |
| Circulation | 12,000(as of 2023) [1] |
| Sister newspapers | New Times |
| Website | santamariasun |
The Santa Maria Sun is an American free weekly newspaper that serves Santa Maria, California and Santa Barbara County. [2] Edited by Camillia Lanham, [3] it is published on Thursdays. [2]
The Sun was founded in 2000 by Steve Moss, who saw a need for a weekly community newspaper that could act as a “town square where everybody could participate.” [4]
Shortly after its founding, Lompoc, California Economic Development Committee member Justin Ruhge contributed a controversial editorial to the Nov. 16 issue. It stated that "Muslims are out to destroy our world." [5]
Steve Moss died in 2005. [4] For fifteen years, Ryan Miller edited the Sun. During the 2005 Michael Jackson trial in Santa Maria, Miller provided local commentary for national and international news outlets. [6] [7] Miller left the Sun in 2015. [8]
In 2013, the Sun won an award for its investigation of a corrections officer's death at the Federal Correctional Institution, Lompoc. The Sun uncovered a pattern of administrative malfeasance and abuse that may have contributed to the death of two corrections officers. [9]