Investigative reporting proposal

To: Professor Burnis Morris

From: Kayla Queen

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Re: Investigative story proposal

Subject: Clothing companies wasting unsold items

Scope: A recent scandal involving American Apparel revealed that the company was destroying perfectly good clothing that had not been sold and throwing it out. It begs the question, are other companies doing this as well? To investigate this issue, undercover reporting would be necessary. Searching the stores for wasted clothing.

Need: There are thousands of people who actually need clothing, and the fact that these places could be wasting it in the blink of an eye is a serious issue.

Methods: The story could be reported by speaking with employees of these places to see what information can be obtained, as well as finding data and policies about getting rid of unsold clothing.

Sources: Managers and employees of the stores would obviously have to be interviewed. As for documents, these might be more difficult to obtain, and with an issue like this, it would not be likely the stores record it at all. However, the lack of documentation could lead to the issue, because there might be some holes that need filling. Also, it would be a good idea to speak with people involved in the American Apparel scandal with destroying clothes and find out why they were doing that.

Presentation: This could be a good investigative story for either a newspaper or magazine, and might end up being a longer piece. Photos would need to be included to add to the story.

Follow-up: This investigation, like the American Apparel situation, could lead to even more investigations of stores, restaurants and other companies who might be wasting perfectly good merchandise that could be used by those in need.