Four Elon journalism students were part of a team that worked on a series of news articles documenting the fate of laid-off textile workers. Their stories were published in the April 21 edition. Details...
The students assisted Eric Heisler, a business reporter for the Greensboro News & Record, in gathering information for his series, “After the Shutdown.” The articles documented the lives of more than 100 textile workers who lost their jobs when Guilford Mills closed its Greensboro plant about a year ago.
Heisler wrote three major N&R Sunday centerpiece stories on the topic that ran April 1, July 22 and Oct. 28, 2001. Click here to read the story from the April 21 edition.
Elon students Elizabeth Sudduth and Jennifer Hildebrand, and Andi Petrini and Jessica Vitak, did the bulk of the research for the fourth and final article in the series. They contacted the displaced workers by phone and asking them survey questions regarding their work lives since the layoffs. Each student wrote a bylined profile on one of the workers. Their work with the News & Record was arranged and coordinated by journalism faculty member Janna Q. Anderson.
Heisler said the project is gaining national attention. “It is being introduced in Congress in discussions about labor and the economy,” he explained. “Dateline NBC” is considering using some of the content as a concept on which to base a story about the significant changes in North Carolina’s economy due to the demise of Big Tobacco and Big Textiles.