Bill Adair

Durham

Editor at The 9th Street Journal

Creator at PolitiFact

Knight Professor of Journalism & Public Policy at Duke, creator of PolitiFact, author of "Beyond the Big Lie."

Articles

Brian from Michigan

1 week ago | cjr.org | Bill Adair

Sign up for The Media Today, CJRâs daily newsletter. It all started in 2012. I was the editor of the fact-checking site PolitiFact and a guest on Washington Journal, C-SPANâs wonderfully wonky morning show. It features politicians, journalists, and policy experts taking questions from an amiable host and an unpredictable group of callers. Someone identified as Brian from Michigan called in to ask if it was true that Republicans lied more than Democrats.
Saying farewell to 10th Street

Feb 4, 2025 | 9thstreetjournal.org | Bill Adair

The 10th Street Journal, our experiment with AI journalism, has come to an end. (That sentence was written by a human!)We had always envisioned it as a short-term trial. Now, after publishing more than 500 articles about everything from road closures to lemur births, we’ve decided to end our 10th Street feature because of a staffing change and a need to focus on the work of our student journalists.
Saying farewell to 10th Street

Feb 4, 2025 | flipboard.com | Bill Adair

1 hour agoI Know What Musk is Up ToThe following headline appeared on my Google News feed this morning: “Palantir CEO Hails Musk’s DOGE Disruption: ‘Some People Are Going to Get Their …NowThe future of AI? Bella Storm, a digital sex worker, explainsThe increasingly popular AI characters in porn say a lot about what our lives will be like when our daily interlocutors are “artificial”.
What’s In a Lie? On the Different Ways Politicians Mislead the Public

Oct 22, 2024 | lithub.com | Bill Adair

For years, political reporters and fact-checkers were reluctant to say a politician lied. That was partly because the word packed a wallop, and lying was seen as a serious allegation. (Those were more innocent times.) Also, the journalists were trying to be consistent with the definition that a lie was “a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive.” How, they asked, could they know the politician’s intent?
How To Make Lying Unpopular in Politics

Oct 15, 2024 | msn.com | Bill Adair

Continue reading More for You Continue reading More for You
How To Make Lying Unpopular in Politics

Oct 14, 2024 | time.com | Bill Adair

IdeasBy Bill AdairOctober 15, 2024 7:00 AM EDTAdair, founder of PolitiFact and a professor of journalism and public policy at Duke University, is the author of Beyond the Big Lie The general election campaign is in high gear, filling our airwaves, web pages and mailboxes with attack ads, often powered by lies. We see them every election: TV spots with ominous voiceovers and grainy black-and-white photos and flyers with cherry-picked quotations and dramatic headlines.
Why Politicians Lie

Oct 9, 2024 | theatlantic.com | Bill Adair

For American politicians, this is a golden age of lying. Social media allows them to spread mendacity with speed and efficiency, while supporters amplify any falsehood that serves their cause. When I launched PolitiFact in 2007, I thought we were going to raise the cost of lying. I didn’t expect to change people’s votes just by calling out candidates, but I was hopeful that our journalism would at least nudge them to be more truthful. I was wrong.
Beyond the Big Lie

Jun 26, 2024 | simonandschuster.com | Bill Adair

Bill Adair, Pulitzer Prize winner, journalism professor, and founder of Politifact, presents an eye-opening and engaging history of political liars and a vision for how to make them stop. Bill Adair knows a lie when he hears one. Since 2008, the site he founded, PolitiFact, has been the go-to spot for media members and political observers alike to seek the truth in an increasingly deceitful world.
Introducing The 10th Street Journal

May 20, 2024 | 9thstreetjournal.org | Bill Adair |Alison Jones

This week we’re introducing a new feature to provide you with coverage you probably don’t see anymore — articles about road construction, event announcements and trash pickups. As local news has shrunk, those stories have often been eliminated. We’re going to provide them thanks to the power of artificial intelligence and the discerning eye of a human editor through an experimental feature we’re calling The 10th Street Journal.
9th Street journalists honored for Under the Radar

Mar 11, 2024 | 9thstreetjournal.org | Bill Adair

Student journalists at The 9th Street Journal have won the Frank Barrows Award for their series Under the Radar, which put the spotlight on Durham’s little-known boards and commissions. The annual award honors student journalism that “exemplifies the vital role of open meetings, public records and press access in public life.” It is named after Barrows, former managing editor of the Charlotte Observer and a founding member of the North Carolina Open Government Coalition.