Good news, or merely neutral news, never got as much coverage as bad news. Good thing, probably, as news is not a profile of society as it is warts and all. It tends to be exceptions to the rule. Ergo, pretty much warts and more warts. If good news becomes the exception, we’re in real trouble. But there is even less of it lately, and that’s not a good thing.

Somebody at National Geographic decided that to listen in on the director of the Dept. of Energy’s “ARPA-E” program describe its latest list of grants, and treat it as news, could work out. Reporter Josie Garthwaite got the assignment, which runs under the plain-jane head, Storage, Biofuel Lead $156 Million in Energy Research Grants.

Stories like this – beat stories that keep a citizenry somewhat aware of the dominant hum-drum but productive routine of life rather than only cockeyed celebrities and episodes of disaster and incompetence – are a tonic. Nat’l Geo News is not a major outlet, but it is not a pipsqueak either. Read this. You’ll learn a few things. Reporters might even see some clues to stories that’d have some excitement to them.

- Charlie Petit

This entry was posted on Friday, September 30th, 2011 at 2:48 pm and is filed under Environment & Energy Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.