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
Gravel road with higher risk awaits Sturgis rally bikers
“Boy, it’s a mess, and it’s not a good place to ride a motorcycle through right now.”
City of Faith to scrap code enforcement crackdown
After a public outcry, the small city of Faith in remote northwestern South Dakota is taking steps to backtrack on a recent property code enforcement crackdown.
Embattled CEO of major SD social services agency steps down
The abrupt resignation at the Rural Office of Community Services comes 18 months after he was the subject of a stinging federal workplace sexual harassment settlement of $320,000.
Property code enforcement a sore spot in some SD towns
More communities are hiring outside enforcers, which draws some ire. “I would rather arrest a 300-pound fighting drunk than tell a 90-year-old lady she had to mow her lawn.”
Rural and reservation health providers face major hurdles in South Dakota
Patchwork system of health care in rural and reservation areas of South Dakota complicates care. This is the second of a two-part series on rural and reservation health care.
Access to health care limited in SD rural and reservation areas
A weekslong investigation revealed numerous barriers to health care in rural and reservation areas of South Dakota that are leading to increased illness and higher mortality rates. This is the first of a two-part series.
Black Hills highway closure to upend summer holiday traffic
Motorists trying to cruise through the central Black Hills this summer will encounter a long detour because U.S. Highway 385 is closed.