South Dakota News Watch journalists provide stories and fact briefs for free to their own readers as well as 100 media partners that are asked to abide by the republishing policy outlined below. 

Other organizations also may use our content, which is licensed by Creative Commons under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.

Steal our stuff (just credit us)

We strive to create stories of a statewide interest that complement the work of our media partners.

As a nonprofit, our funding comes mostly from individual and foundation donations, which allows for free distribution. Thank you to our media partners that also provide additional financial support. If you use any or all of our content, please consider donating a one-time or recurring contribution. 

Here are the republishing guidelines that help us continue to provide everything at no cost to your newsroom by making it clear where the story came from:

  • Story credit: Use the writer's name and “South Dakota News Watch” in the byline or verbally credit us at least once in broadcast. 
  • Edits: Feel free to edit and add local material, but always include the byline noted above. If you make significant changes, add "additional reporting by (your name or organization)."
  • Citation: If you use just a quote, paraphrase, graphic, photo or other partial content in your own story, credit us and link to the full story, if online.
  • Your own reporting: If you use a story or fact brief as an idea for your own story, please indicate that it was first reported by South Dakota News Watch or cite us as a source. 
  • Tagline: Use the tagline included at the end of each story to encourage readers to augment your content by going to our site. 
  • Photos: Only use photos from the media folder and not from our website because legal rights on some elements might not extend to media partners. Each photo includes a caption embedded in the image’s description. If the full caption can't be used, just credit the image to “South Dakota News Watch.” Television use of photos or video should include credit in the graphics. 
  • Paywalls: Use of South Dakota News Watch content behind a paywall is allowed for media partners that financially support us but is otherwise prohibited.
  • Social media: If you share our stories on social media, please tag our handles: sdnewswatch for Facebook, Instagram, Threads and X and south-dakota-news-watch for LinkedIn.

How to sign up or contact us

To become a media partner:

  1. Create an account and sign in to verify your email. This ensures you receive it and we don't attract spammers.
  2. Agree to the above terms and fill out this form for each relevant staffer, including a newsroom-wide email address to ensure stories continue regardless of staffing. 
  3. Add info@sdnewswatch.org to your contacts to ensure it goes in your inbox.

What you'll receive:

  • An email summary on most weekdays that links to the full story with a section for media partners only. It will have a rundown of content available for your use and a link to a shared drive with each element. Content typically includes the full story for print or online, an abridged version or series for print or online use, a broadcast script and voicer as well as graphics, photos, audio and video when available.
  • Weekly planning email with lines for upcoming stories and other coverage advisories.

For questions, corrections or other issues, contact CEO Carson Walker at 605-610-9366 / carson.walker@sdnewswatch.org or 605-215-6225 / info@sdnewswatch.org.

We promote your newsroom, please help promote ours

On our website and in presentations around the state, we convey to our audiences that we strive to complement stories they receive from media partners. 

The interactive Google Map below includes all media outlets in the state, so people can easily find credible sources of news. Our media partners are in gold and statewide media partners are in yellow.

One way you can promote the partnership is to add one of the SDNW logos to your website and a description: This story was produced in partnership with South Dakota News Watch, an independent, nonprofit news organization. Read more in-depth stories at sdnewswatch.org and sign up for an email. Contact SDNW at info@sdnewswatch.org.

Thank you!