Duke Professor Bill Adair is driven by a desire to make crucial information more accessible to wide audiences, and his principles are imperative for addressing the issue of lying in politics and the consequences of false information in democracy.
Adair is Duke University’s Knight Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy and the creator of PolitiFact, a web-based platform that measures the accuracy of political statements in the media. Adair spoke on the topic “Beyond the Big Lie and the Assault on the Truth” April 1 at the Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy and Innovation at the University of Mississippi symposium “Addressing the Impact of Social Media and Artificial Intelligence on Democracy.”
Adair pitched the website idea to his editors at the St. Petersburg Times in 2006 following former Democratic Sen. Zell Miller’s exaggerated claims at the 2004 Republican National Convention, officially launching PolitiFact in 2007.
“I felt like we needed — we owed it to our readers — to tell them what was true and what was not,” Adair said.
Earning the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for web-only content, developing a new spectrum for detecting lies with the “Truth-O-Meter” and successfully tracking the campaign promises of former President Barack Obama, Adair gradually became a pioneer for the fact-checking movement.
While Adair has not been affiliated with PolitiFact since 2020, it has flourished as a project, evolving with the emergence of social media platforms and new political figures. PolitiFact was acquired by the Poynter Institute in 2018.
Louis Jacobson is the longest tenured employee and current chief correspondent of PolitiFact, having witnessed questionable claims come through chain email, the 2008 presidential campaign and Donald Trump’s presidency.
“Something that’s gotten increasingly noticeable in terms of fact-checking the politicians is that truth-telling or falsehoods have become more central to the whole political debate,” Jacobson said.
Adair’s most recent accomplishment tracks the trend of political falsehoods, a 2024 publication titled “Beyond the Big Lie: The Epidemic of Political Lying, Why Republicans Do It More, and How It Could Burn Down Our Democracy.”
“It’s important to say that Republicans lie more,” Adair said. “It’s just a fact. That’s the reality of our politics, unfortunately.”
In an attempt to create audience accessibility similar to PolitiFact’s “Truth-O-Meter,” Adair uses the method of storytelling to convey the implications of falling victim to nationally recognized lies.
“I thought it was going to be much more of a book of political analysis,” Adair said. “As I started to put it together, I realized that’s kind of boring.”
One story follows a man, Eric Barber, who fell for Trump’s lies about election fraud and subsequently stormed the U.S. Capitol in 2021. Another follows Nina Jankowicz, a combator of disinformation who became the victim of false accusations and right-wing attempts to limit her speech.
“There are human lives at stake,” Adair said.
These stories and the “epidemic of lying” were among the subjects Adair discussed at the first Jordan Center Symposium at The Inn at Ole Miss on April 1, hosted by the Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy and Innovation.
He summarized his biggest goal as a fact-checker, which is solely “to tell the truth about lying.” This truth is that many politicians, most commonly those in the Republican Party, actively make decisions to lie and spread disinformation to their audiences.
Andrea Hickerson, dean of the School of Journalism and New Media, saw the importance of bringing in the most qualified Jordan Symposium speakers to shed light on journalism’s impact on democracy.
“Adair was really the vanguard of the fact-checking movement,” Hickerson said. “He really just epitomized what the event was about.”
Adair pushed the necessity of media consumers to question politicians who lie to the students, faculty and members of the public attending the event.
“I really believe that if enough people rise up and say stop, then politicians will,” Adair said.
Adair’s promotion of fighting lies and gaining media literacy is not exclusive to Politifact and “Beyond the Big Lie.” He worked with the North Carolina Fact-Checking Project through the Duke Reporter’s Lab, collaborating with students and professionals to assist political fact-checking and reimagine new technologies to appeal to broader audiences.
He sees his students as vital contributors to democracy and successful inquirers of public officials, which he believes can change the trajectory of modern journalism.
“People want information,” Hickerson said. “They want to be smart voters.”
