Business coverage vital to your product and community

Editors are regularly solicited to publish news that puts merchants in good standing. In small communities, grip-and-grin photos of check presentations often dominate the...

Don’t let pursuit of ‘shiny things’ diminish reporting

All journalists can look back decades or even just a few months to see examples of the “shiny things” that distract us from our...

The Art of the Interview: How to get the goods during COVID-19

The basis for almost all great journalism is the interview, the act of obtaining information from a source. With less in-person meetings...

Five key focus points on the path to a great story

Bart Pfankuch is an investigative reporter for South Dakota News Watch. Write to him at bart.pfankuch@sdnewswatch.org. Anyone who has...

Special projects energize staff, community

I fondly characterize newsrooms as organized chaos. That definition has aptly described operations for the past 18 months with the impact of COVID-19. The...

Plan now to recognize first responders

Are you looking for a project that can energize your news staff, generate new advertising revenue and underscore the value of a local newspaper...

Objectivity: a noble idea that requires a process

Bart Pfankuch is the content director and an investigative reporter for South Dakota News Watch. Contact him at bart.pfankuch@sdnewswatch.org

Be responsible in exercising rights to public information

A divorce is finalized, but it is not recorded in the newspaper until four months later. Someone appears in court for a domestic assault, but...

Press politicians on election promises

Elections are over, and you breathe a sigh of relief. The exhaustive campaign season has concluded, and newsrooms can return to some level of...

Keep eye out for 11th-hour election volleys

Election Day is only weeks away. The hyper-partisanship of races at all levels – from local to state to federal – demands that editors...