Carson Walker
Title: chief executive officer
Contact: 605-610-9366 / carson.walker@sdnewswatch.org
Language spoken: English
Demographic expertise: South Dakota and its people. Walker has traveled the entire state extensively throughout his journalism career and understands the uniqueness of all regions, including rural areas, small towns, cities and reservations
Topic expertise: Government, politics, crime and the legal system, Indigenous issues, the environment, agriculture, business, education, health care, religion, editing, investigative journalism, leadership, innovation
Biography: Walker, an Iowa native, was inspired to go into journalism in his teens as a newspaper carrier for The Des Moines Register, his first job. He was a radio announcer and reporter while studying journalism and political science at Colorado State University. Walker began his career as a reporter, photojournalist, producer and anchor at KDLT-TV in Sioux Falls, where he also served as news director after six years as a beat reporter at the Argus Leader. His experience includes 17 years at The Associated Press as a writer, broadcast editor and news editor in South Dakota as well as an editor and supervisor on the national filing desk in Phoenix. He also held communications and video positions at the University of South Dakota and Sanford Health, where he launched and managed a crowdsourcing platform for the innovations team. Walker lives in Rapid City, has four adult children and one grandchild, and runs, cycles, hikes and skis.
Professional memberships: Investigative Reporters and Editors, Society of Professional Journalists, Online News Association
Archive of work: South Dakota News Watch (below); Muck Rack; Sanford Health News
