NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- The uncertain future of print media remains a challenge for the industry in the struggle to hold onto tradition while even internet news operations fight for acceptance as the drone of social media draws the masses.
But if there has been one constant in the uncertain of the news business locally, it's Dinah Pulver, the environment reporter, who has chipped in to cover everything from NASCAR to Bike Week and the occasional chicken dinner festival.
Regardless, she always finds her way back to the specialty beat she's carved out for herself over two-plus decades.
While newbie reporters have come and gone, Pulver has gone about her due diligence of educating the public locally on the importance of water quality -- not only drinking sources, but as the lifeline for countless species of wildlife, critters and aquatic life.
Indeed of mankind, itself.
Pulver is a three-time recipient of the Waldo Proffitt Award for Excellence in Environmental Journalism, Florida’s highest award for environment writing.
She received the award in 2014, for her 5-day series on the crisis in the Indian River Lagoon.
She has also received the Biff Lampton Communicator of the Year Award from the Florida Wildlife Federation and an outstanding journalist award from the Florida Planning and Zoning Association.
As if that weren't enough to hang her writing credentials on, Pulver has written two books, both biographies for Florida entrepreneurs.
Pulver is old-school in her approach to journalism going to the news instead of waiting for it to come to her as has become the norm today in press-release journalism.
She knows how to put on that Southern charm to get reluctant sources to talk, whether it's seeking out the politicians behind the dais after a drawn-out meeting, a fisherman on the riverbank in the middle of a swamp or squinting through blood-shot eyes cause by thick smoke on the outskirts of a massive wildfire to bring the story home to readers.
She knows how to put on that Southern charm to get reluctant sources to talk, whether it's seeking out the politicians behind the dais after a drawn-out meeting, a fisherman on the riverbank in the middle of a swamp or squinting through blood-shot eyes cause by thick smoke on the outskirts of a massive wildfire to bring the story home to readers.
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