Where all news is good news
Things aren’t as bad as we think they are, David Byrne discovers
In October, people found their seats at the Town Hall theater in New York City, not just for a concert or a comedy show, but both — and more. This variety show celebrated the fifth anniversary of Reasons to be Cheerful, a nonprofit online magazine offering good news in a market often dominated by doom and gloom headlines.
But these aren’t your average feel-good stories about a firefighter helping a cat down from a tree. Reasons to be Cheerful reports on evidence-based solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems, from poverty to climate change. In fact, you may have read some of the publication’s articles in this magazine. Rotary republishes the outlet’s stories from time to time, and the two publications collaborate on other pieces.
Musician and writer David Byrne, a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer with Talking Heads and Grammy winner for a music film, got into the good news business in 2019. What started as a personal project has evolved into a full editorial and administrative team publishing an optimistic story most weekdays. Over the past five years, Reasons to be Cheerful has published about a thousand such stories, and Byrne sees no end in sight.
In September, NPR journalist Scott Simon talked with Byrne for the Rotary Voices podcast ahead of Reasons to be Cheerful’s fifth anniversary celebration. Byrne discussed the origins of Reasons to be Cheerful, the stories that have stuck with him, and his personal reflections on cheer in the modern world.
Why did you start Reasons to be Cheerful?
Like a lot of people, I get up in the morning and read the newspapers over coffee and grapefruit. I end up getting my stomach in a knot, anxious and angry, and that lasts into my day. I realized this is not good for me, not good for my health, and it’s not solving any of the problems I’m reading about.
So, when I saw a story about something that seemed hopeful, especially about someone who had actually solved one of the problems out in the world somewhere, I saved it in a folder. And then I started writing about these things myself, basically saying, “Things are maybe not as bad as we think they are.”
The social media algorithms and our own evolutionary bias make us pay more attention to bad news or things that might threaten us or scare us than we would to things that are hopeful. It’s a kind of survival instinct. I thought maybe we can redress that balance a little bit, because there are things that people have found solutions for and things that are hopeful out there, and they just don’t get the clicks that the bad news does.
I realized, maybe we can be a counterweight to that and maybe we can do this in a more formal way. So, I started working with editors, writers, a web designer. We started doing two stories a week and now we’re up to five. I’m surprised there’s that many stories.
Illustration by Cristian Barba Camarena
What recent story has stayed with you?
One of the most popular in recent months was about the removal of dams [on the Penobscot River] in Maine. These dams weren’t generating much electricity or power. They were built when logging was a huge industry in Maine, and they provided some mechanical power to run the mills. But those are long gone and now dams like these just stop the fish and back up the water, so the water becomes stagnant. Little by little, they have been removed.
The good news is the fish and the wildlife have all started to come back. The predators that feed on the fish — the eagles, raccoons, and bears — they have all started to come back. This life along the river has become more vibrant. From the human point of view, the river has become a better place and the real estate values, which suffered when the river was stagnant, have gone up. It’s a more desirable place to live.
So this is a story that tells people it’s possible to make a difference?
It is possible to make a difference. And then we go into the details of how this was done, all these efforts, which might not be everyone’s cup of tea — the mechanics of how change like this happens. But it’s important to know how it happens. It’s not a magical snap of the fingers.
What have you learned through five years of putting out Reasons to be Cheerful? For one thing, does that figure surprise you?
I’m surprised that financially we’ve managed to hang in there and we’re doing all right. I’m surprised that we keep finding stories. I genuinely thought that at some point we’d scrape the bottom of the barrel and be like, “OK, that’s it for the good news.” The other things are more administrative. I learned that there are always changes and shifts in the team, and eventually it settles into something, and you go, “Ah, now people are doing what they like, and they’re doing it well.” And I can step back a bit because we’re working with really good people. It’s very nice when that happens.
You don’t have ads or paywalls, right?
No, though we did try ads for a little while. We run on membership. We ask people to pay what they wish. There’s no set fee, but that helps us, as well as occasional philanthropic donations. We do talks — I went to Maine and did a talk with some of the people involved in the dam removal. So we can bring in a little bit of money here and there.
Do you still fill yourself up with news?
Yes, I still read the papers when I get up in the morning, but now at least I have an alternative. If I need some therapy, let’s say, after getting myself all worked up reading what’s happened overnight, I can turn to some things like, “Oh, here’s some people who’ve done something hopeful.”
Now, if I’m having a dinner conversation with friends and they start talking about a subject and how terrible and hopeless it seems, I go, “Ah, but did you know, these people in Vienna, here’s how they solved their housing problem?” or something like that. And I’ll say it shortly and not make a pompous speech, but it means I can counter the negative stories.
David Byrne takes to the stage to celebrate Reasons to be Cheerful’s fifth anniversary. Joining him are comedian Fred Armisen and drum line Fogo Azul. Emilio Herce, Courtesy of Reasons to be Cheerful
Have you ever had to scrounge or are the stories somehow always there?
Surprisingly, the stories are there. But as the founder of this thing, I push for evidence that a solution is a real solution, and not just a wish or a good idea or somebody trying something out. The reader needs to see that this has actually been successful and gives some measure of success. Sometimes it’s a bit of a struggle getting that kind of data. You don’t always get handed data and numbers and evidence that are exactly what you want. Sometimes you have to look for it.
Tell us about the relationship that you have with Rotary. Reasons to be Cheerful articles appear in Rotary magazine, for example.
I’ll be honest, it surprised me. My impression was that Rotary’s an institution that you’re aware of in every town that you pass through when you’re driving around the country. I didn’t know that much about what Rotary does. I think Rotary has shifted a little bit, and some of our interests have aligned. We’ve done stories together and we’ll probably do more in the future.
You’ve written about technology and isolation. Are you concerned about loneliness?
Not so much for myself. I see people socially all the time, and I’m also a person who doesn’t mind being alone at times. A lot of my work entails me being alone. But I also feel that technological developments have been isolating us.
You see people walking down the street looking at their phones and that’s how they connect with other people. Now, it’s nice to connect with other people, but to my way of thinking, that’s not really a connection. You miss a lot of what a human interaction is when you just do it over social media or phone.
Increasingly, we can relate to other people, do our shopping and this and that without ever coming in contact with another person. Granted, having a little interaction with a salesperson is not maybe the biggest thing in the world, but they are a human being. And there’s a certain thing that happens when you’re dealing with a human being. I do worry about those things being gradually taken away from us.
How do we avoid being overwhelmed by all the discouraging circumstances in this world?
I would say getting together with friends, colleagues, and small groups. I joined a book club recently. I think I knew just one of the people in it before I joined. I don’t always like the books we read, but it’s always great to get together and talk about them. Little projects, gardens, book clubs, or sports. I think that getting together is really a healthy thing that makes people feel better.
Can I ask you about riding your bike through New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic? This wasn’t just to get from point A to point B, right? This was a journey of discovery.
I’m someone who uses a bicycle as a means of commuting and getting around. New York is pretty flat, so it’s pretty easy. And during COVID, I quickly discovered that here’s a way where you can remain socially distanced but still get together with some friends and explore.
A lot of cities have sprawl, but New York is just really big. We decided little by little to ride through all these different neighborhoods that we weren’t familiar with. We went to the Bronx, to Jackson Heights and Flushing in Queens, and ended up at the airport on one ride. And of course, since it was early in the pandemic, not a single plane was flying. We’d come back from a ride and go through Times Square, which was almost empty except for a few what seemed like befuddled tourists who had somehow ended up there. And it seemed to me they were asking themselves, “Well, what do we do now?” You could hear birds. It was an eerie moment, but you could hear birds everywhere.
I hope this isn’t a stretch, but is that also kind of what you’re doing with Reasons to be Cheerful: helping us hear the birds?
Yeah, I’ll take that! They’re there. They’re doing their best to shout above the traffic and the ambulances and everything else. We often can’t hear them, but if you can clear a little space, they’re there.
This story, adapted from the podcast, originally appeared in the February 2025 issue of Rotary magazine.