Why Should I Trust You?

Bold, unfiltered, and uncompromisingly honest, Why Should I Trust You? is a weekly podcast that looks at the breakdown in trust for science and public health. It drops every Thursday, with occasional additional special episodes sprinkled in.

Hosted by Brinda Adhikari, the former executive producer of “The Problem with Jon Stewart” and a former TV news journalist; Tom Johnson, the former executive producer of “The Circus,” and also a former TV news journalist; Dr. Maggie Bartlett, a virologist and assistant research professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and Dr. Mark Abdelmalek a skin cancer surgeon, a medical journalist and a dermatologist practicing in Philadelphia - each week we try to figure out what is behind this staggering collapse in trust and see if we can rebuild towards trust again.

We hear from people who are wary about public statements, recommendations and studies coming from what they view as an elitist and conflict-riddled scientific establishment. And we hear from those in this establishment who fear the consequences of what they see as a dangerous trend towards anti-expertise. And then somehow, we will seek a path through all this!

Co-host

Tom Johnson

Tom is an award-winning news producer with experience in documentary series, digital, cable and network news. For the past 7 years, Tom was the Showrunner and an Executive Producer of Paramount+ and Showtime's five-time Emmy-nominated political news and documentary series, The Circus. Previously, he was the Executive Editor of Bloomberg Politics and Executive Producer of the nightly news program With All Due Respect, airing on Bloomberg and MSNBC. Before that, Tom spent two decades at ABC News, where he served as Senior Broadcast Producer for the network’s flagship evening program, World News Tonight. His work has been honored with Emmy, Edward R. Murrow, and Peabody awards.