Title: investigative reporter and content director
Contact: 605-937-9398 / bart.pfankuch@sdnewswatch.org
Language spoken: English
Demographic expertise: South Dakota, including the Rapid City area, the Black Hills, rural towns and reservations
Topic expertise: agriculture, state government, education, rural issues, Indigenous people, poverty
Potential conflict of interest: Pfankuch serves on the board of the Oyate Prevention Coalition in Rapid City, which works to prevent substance abuse among Native American youth. He will recuse himself from reporting on the organization.
Biography: Pfankuch (pronounced FAN-cook) is Wisconsin native and former editor of the Rapid City Journal. He has worked for more than 30 years as a reporter and editor at newspapers in Wisconsin, Florida and South Dakota, including as reporter or editor at the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram and Capital Times in Wisconsin, and at the Florida Times-Union and Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida. He also is a syndicated writing coach who has presented at newspaper conferences across the country. Pfankuch has won more than four dozen state, regional and national journalism awards, including, while at News Watch, agricultural writer of the year from the North American Agricultural Journalists association in 2020, 2021 and 2023 as well as first-place reporting awards in the Great Plains Journalism Awards sponsored by the Tulsa Press Club and South Dakota NewsMedia Association. Pfankuch lives in Black Hawk.
Professional memberships: Investigative Reporters and Editors, North American Agricultural Journalists, South Dakota NewsMedia First Amendment Committee
Social platforms: X/Twitter; LinkedIn
Archive of work: South Dakota News Watch
Bart Pfankuch
Total 307 Posts
Warning signs found in new South Dakota economic data
Farm income, sales tax collections, job openings, unemployment, personal income and gross domestic product are among the top concerns. 'No red flags ... (but) a return to more of the normal.'
Hot Springs takes next steps in push for prosperity
The Southern Black Hills city is part of a pilot project to identify top problems and solutions using journalism and community engagement.
Watertown taps resident input to solve problems
The South Dakota city of 23,000 is among those crowdsourcing solutions to community challenges like housing, child care and labor.
Southeast SD surges ahead of Black Hills in tourism revenue
South Dakota saw $4.96 billion in tourism spending in 2023, with 14.7 million visitors. Increasingly, more of them are drawn to the 14 counties in and around Sioux Falls.
How Midwest Street Medicine is bridging health equity gaps for the homeless
"This is where we can make a real difference in health equity and life expectancy."
Armour shop owner jailed over nuisance property ruling
The case demonstrates the clash of personal rights with the need to protect the entire community and keep small towns from dying.
How a small college became a national cyber powerhouse
A credit card company's move to South Dakota 40 years ago helped turn Dakota State University into a unique, high-tech campus.