Brittany Crocker is the new energy reporter at the Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee, replacing Frank Munger, who held the beat for 35 years.
Crocker writes, “Even from Washington D.C., where I was living when I filed my first application for this position, I recalled the man who had become a household name.
“Still, the gravity did not set in until the day I took over the beat.
“At once, my carefully decorated cubicle walls were overwhelmed with flow charts, to-do lists and all-caps sticky notes reminding me which contractors handled which operations at which Energy Department site.
“I’ve covered crime, city governments, public safety and federal courts before, but I’ve never run into anything quite as complex as the News Sentinel’s energy desk. It’s got elements of federal, state and local government reporting, business reporting, environmental coverage and science writing all mixed in with the numerous small nonprofits and interest groups in Oak Ridge’s orbit.
“It probably doesn’t help that I’m only the second person here to try to figure it all out.”
Read more here.
