Howtown

We are video journalists who have been covering science and tech for many years. You may have seen our work with Vox, NPR, and Netflix "Explained". Now we've left the turbulent world of the news media to establish a more direct relationship with you. We had a feeling our people were out there and look, here you are! Howtown is a YouTube channel about where facts come from, with each episode tackling a different "How Do They Know That" question. We believe that news audiences can handle much more nuance and uncertainty than most people think and that the ability to evaluate evidence is not a skill that only experts can learn. We also believe that science is best understood as an iterative problem-solving process, not a set of conclusions for us to simply repeat. These are our principles: Curiosity-driven: We are not searching for evidence to support a position that we've already chosen. We are here to understand what it takes to answer difficult and interesting questions and to help you navigate what we know so far. Primary sources: We are reading all of the research publications that we discuss, not relying on existing summaries, and we speak directly with those involved in that work. Accountability: In the case of any factual errors, we will post corrections directly under the relevant video that explain what we got wrong. We will also maintain a running document where you can see all of our errors at any time. Independence: We will not be accepting any offers for sponsored content or native advertising, in which the video itself exists to serve the sponsor. Any ad reads we do will be kept separate from the content of the video itself. For now our team is very small. That limits how quickly we can publish but we hope that in the future our team can grow. Your support directly affects whether Howtown can continue to exist, and what form it will take in the future, but just as important is creating a community where we can just talk to you all, get your advice and suggestions, and enjoy being curious, engaged humans together. Thank you for supporting this project at whatever level you're able, even if that just means tuning in to watch or sharing a Howtown video with someone who might enjoy it. Everyone at the free tier and up will receive a newsletter announcing when we publish. See you there!