And here’s a later City Wire story that’s much better than the Times Record’s output. Check the tone of the lede, for one:
A gray, overcast and rainy Thursday (Oct. 27) seemed made-to-order on a day when it was confirmed that Whirlpool Corp. would cease operations at its Fort Smith refrigerator manufacturing plant.
The closure, expected by mid-2012, will mark the end more than 45 years of Whirlpool operations in Fort Smith.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette even found a union leader and dispirited employees to talk to, and put in this quote on the broader economic impact from the director of the University of Arkansas’s business-school:
“It’s obviously devastating to lose that many jobs, and from a core industry,” she said, noting that large employers such as Whirlpool develop clusters of related suppliers.
“You have the center of the cluster being pulled out,” Deck said. “The ripple effect goes through all those industries.”
The Times Record ought to take a cue from these guys and quit relying on flack-driven storylines.
Christian optimism (or fatalism) is the best antidote to secular whining and unions and everything else bad. Bravo to the Times Record for recognizing that the people's strength is in their faith, and as such that it must be blind in order to be perfect.
#1 Posted by Edward Ericson Jr., CJR on Mon 31 Oct 2011 at 12:04 PM
"The news since November 2003 has been troubling, with Whirlpool announcing numerous production cuts and layoffs ..."
Fort Smith has been aware that this plants days were numbered since "November 2003" so there is very little anger in the community. We want to look forward to the good that the future will bring not the sadness of the past.
#2 Posted by Jim Kolettis, CJR on Mon 31 Oct 2011 at 05:30 PM
Ed Ericson's post has to be a joke. But this Kolettis character scares me.
#3 Posted by Larry Bear, CJR on Tue 1 Nov 2011 at 04:17 PM