200 editions in, The Dakota Scout still committed

Four years after its launch, the locally owned newspaper has expanded its reach, challenged government secrecy and helped reshape South Dakota’s media landscape

This week, as fresh stacks of newsprint land on counters from Aberdeen to Tea and Brandon to Pierre, The Dakota Scout celebrates its 200th print edition.

For some, that might have seemed quixotic. But for the scrappy startup launched in the dog days of summer 2022, reaching 200 weekly editions in under four years was an inevitability.

But it’s not just a number for The Scout’s founders, Joe Sneve and Jonathan Ellis. It’s proof that old-school journalism — reporters pounding the pavement, digging into City Hall and the state Capitol, and delivering stories in a format you can fold, spill coffee on and argue over at the diner — still has a pulse in South Dakota.

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Sneve said this week that the veteran reporters didn’t set out to save local news when they left their corporate media jobs four years ago. Rather, the Dell Rapids native said they simply refused to let it disappear quietly.

“We were frustrated with corporate consolidation and shrinking newsrooms, so we bet on ourselves,” Sneve said.

The result was a different kind of newspaper company.

The Scout’s hybrid model blends digital-first reporting with a free weekly print edition distributed each Friday to grocery stores, coffee shops, restaurants, bars and waiting rooms across eastern South Dakota. Its online home, TheDakotaScout.com, provides subscribers with daily reporting, investigations and enterprise journalism while extending the newspaper’s reach far beyond its print footprint.

The newspaper’s growth hasn’t come without a fight.

Less than a year after publishing its first edition on Sept. 1, 2022, The Dakota Scout worked with lawmakers to modernize South Dakota’s legal newspaper statute so newer publications meeting rigorous circulation and publication standards could qualify to publish legal notices. The newspaper officially became a legal publication on July 1, 2024.

That milestone was immediately tested.

When the new law was challenged in court, The Dakota Scout successfully defended the Legislature’s decision, preserving its legal newspaper status and affirming that new publications could compete alongside legacy newspapers to serve the public.

The newspaper also has gone to court in pursuit of government transparency.

In September 2024, The Dakota Scout sued the South Dakota Office of State Auditor after state-issued government purchasing card records were withheld from the public at the direction of then-Gov. Kristi Noem’s administration. Following months of legal negotiations, court proceedings and threats of legal action against the newspaper, The Dakota Scout obtained the records, which documented extensive taxpayer-funded purchasing card spending by Noem and members of her staff.

The case underscored a philosophy that transparency isn’t simply something The Dakota Scout covers — it’s something the newspaper is willing to fight for.

“No messing around,” the paper’s motto declares.

And it hasn’t.

The Scout has expanded into new territories, including Brookings after that community’s longtime newspaper ceased publication. It has earned official newspaper designations in Minnehaha and Lincoln counties, replacing the larger Argus Leader for certain legal publication responsibilities, while building a reputation for watchdog reporting on politics, government, business, culture and the everyday quirks that make South Dakota unique.

Traditional newspapers long relied on advertising and circulation revenue, a business model that crumbled as readers migrated online and ownership consolidated into national chains.

The Scout chose a different path: reader-supported at its core, locally owned, locally printed in Sioux Falls and fiercely independent. Editorial decisions remain separate from advertisers, and local ownership means decisions are made in South Dakota rather than a distant corporate boardroom.

That approach has resonated.

Today, The Dakota Scout has more than 13,000 subscribers, reaches hundreds of thousands of readers each month online and in print, has cultivated tens of thousands of followers across social media platforms and partners with dozens of organizations — from Sanford Health to family-owned businesses — across the state.

Its logo, inspired by Lewis and Clark, reflects what Ellis and Sneve envisioned from the beginning: exploring new ground in South Dakota journalism.

The Scouting Lounge podcast extends those conversations each week.

The newspaper’s success also is paving the way to an unexpected resurgence in locally owned journalism across South Dakota.

Since Scout’s 2022 launch, several independent news organizations have followed, including the Aberdeen Insider, Watertown Current, Brookings Beacon and Rapid City Post.

“The media narrative is often corporate doom and gloom or social media slop. In South Dakota, we’ve seen something different: quality local content,” said Brad “Murdoc” Jurgensen, who spearheaded the Rapid City Post last year. “There are multiple inspirations behind the Rapid City Post, but The Dakota Scout was definitely one of them. They proved it was possible and necessary. They showed the rebellion works.”

The 200th edition won’t arrive with fireworks or fanfare. True to form, it will look much like the previous 199 — another newspaper filled with accountability reporting, community stories and the occasional unexpected tale that reminds readers why local journalism still matters, Sneve said.