Davidson WFAE reporter wins award

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The Society of Profeesional Journalists has awarded the WFAE documentary with the 2021 Sigma Delta Chi Award.

LocaL reporter wins prestigious nationaL award by Karel Bond Lucander File photo by Lisa Crates

The Effects of “Asbestos Town” on a Community

For years, David Boraks has been reporting about asbestos contamination at the site of a century old cotton mill in Davidson’s historically Black west side. Boraks, who has lived in Davidson with his family since 1993, began sharing this complex and multifaceted story while working for the former online news source he founded, DavidsonNews.net. Now a reporter for WFAE, Boraks had files of detailed material and the idea that this was worthy of something bigger.

He talked with WFAE News Director Greg Collard about creating a documentary, and Collard gave him the green light. “I’ve heard so many people say they never knew about this, and I wanted it to reach a wider audience,” he says. “Thanks to my editor, Greg, I was able to do that.”

As Collard says, “David is all about getting the story, getting to understand the big picture and the nuances. It reached a stage that the better service was to do something all encompassing, from when the plant was in its heyday, where people could work and make a good living but also what the long-term ramifications are and the challenges coming to the solutions. To have something people can refer to is valuable. This is long lasting.”

“Asbestos Town” first aired on WFAE as a three-part series in January 2021. Spin offs included a program for WFAE’s Charlotte Talks, a virtual community conversation, and a web page. And it recently received national recognition. In June, the Society of Professional Journalists presented Boraks with the prestigious 2021 Sigma Delta Chi Award. Selected from among more than 1,200 entries, his was the sole winner in “Radio Documentaries.” According to the SPJ judges, “This piece on the contamination of a mill in a historically Black neighborhood is a great example of the kind of quality work that can happen when a talented reporter gets to cover a beat for more than a decade.”

As a long-time SPJ member, Boraks says receiving this distinction “was really an honor. The SPJ Code of Ethics are guiding principles I have lived by my entire career.”

“Asbestos Town” is a good example of his professional dedication. With so many first-hand accounts and stories shared by family members, “Asbestos Town” is full of surprises—some hard to fathom, unless you put them in the context of the times.

“We now know that asbestos is dangerous, but to hear how people would load up their trucks with asbestos waste material and put it in their yards is sobering,” he says.

And there is still more to this story. A developer recently closed on the property. As his plans move forward, you can get the latest updates by following David Boraks at WFAE.

To hear David Boraks’ award-winning “Asbestos Town,” visit wfae.org/asbestos-town. As the WFAE climate reporter, he primarily covers the effects of climate change across the Carolinas and how we’re adapting to it.