Announcing our new podcast network
We might have got a little carried away.
Three years ago we launched our podcast with a simple question and some dodgy microphones. These days the microphones are much better, we have a lot more questions, and a problem we never anticipated.
In May 2023, we had just finished our Humankind project, a series profiling 100 people quietly doing extraordinary things in the world. When it ended, we were left with a question we couldn’t shake:
What makes someone want to change the world?
What drives a person to devote their life to cleaning up the ocean, fixing global hunger, protecting chimpanzees, or unlocking a cure for a rare disease? How do ordinary people end up doing extraordinary things?
Starting a podcast gave us an excuse to speak to those people in person. Our first season was an enthusiastic mess, figuring things out as we went. We knew in our heads what we wanted, but had absolutely no idea how to make it.
We learned though. Four seasons later we’ve had more than 70 conversations with extraordinary guests like Boyan Slat, Shabana Basij-Rasikh, Steven Pinker, and Kris Tompkins. Experimented. Failed spectacularly (and landed up making our own original audio documentary series). Kept going.
And somehow along the way, one podcast has become four.
Announcing the Fix The News Network
A collection of podcasts exploring progress, possibility and the forces shaping our future. Alongside our newsletter, you’ll now be able to find all our audio content in one place, and on YouTube, with long-form interviews, weekly news roundups, history series and video episodes.
Check it out at podcast.fixthenews.com or by simply clicking on the podcast tab on our website ☝️. You can also search for and subscribe to any of these wherever you normally listen to your podcasts (Apple, Spotify, Amazon etc).
Here they are.
Not sure where to begin?
Want a seven minute antidote to doomscrolling? Start with NewsFix.
Love deep-dive conversations with amazing people? Try the Fix The News Podcast.
History nerd? A Short History of Saving the World.
Looking for an audio documentary with world-changing stakes? A Shot at History.
Why now?
We’re launching this network at a moment when the media landscape is changing - fast. Attention is fragmented. Trust is harder to win. Many people are quietly stepping back from the news altogether; not because they don’t care, but because staying informed feels exhausting.
At the same time, the ways we consume information are shifting. More people are listening while they walk, watching while they cook, and turning to podcasts and longer conversations to make sense of a complicated world.
We’re excited to join the experiment. To meet people in different places and formats, while staying anchored to the same questions that have shaped Fix The News from the beginning:
What’s going right in the world? And… how does progress actually happen?
We’re slowly creating more video too, in an effort to find new ways of telling stories beyond the newsletter. Here are our first two episodes from this season of Fix The News.
We didn’t do this alone
A huge thank you to Anthony Badolato from HearThat! - our audio engineer, the voice behind NewsFix and the person responsible for the sonic identity across the network. Anthony has spent months helping shape not only how these shows sound, but how they feel. We couldn’t have done any of this without him.
And to Sasha Simon, who created our new visual identity for the podcast network and our Youtube channel. Her work genuinely blew us away. Sasha somehow solved the impossible challenge of giving each show its own personality - while keeping them connected to a shared editorial vision. The result feels thoughtful, distinctive and unmistakably ours.
Independent media is rarely glamorous. It’s late night edits, frantic WhatsApp chats, audio tweaks, too much coffee and a lot of conversations that begin with: “What if we…”
We’re so grateful to everyone who helped bring this next chapter to life.
Let us know what you think!
Great work
Always make podcasts available to read for those who can’t listen.
Oh wow, how fabulous!! Thank you soo much for stepping up and becoming visionaries!!