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Bill Adair, Knight Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy  

Office Location: 136 Sanford Building, Box 90241, Durham, NC 27708
Duke Box: 90241
Email Address: bill.adair@duke.edu
Web Page: http://www.reporterslab.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillAdairDuke

Areas of Expertise

  • Media and Communications
    • New Media, Government and Politics
    • Economics of Media

Education:
A.B., Arizona State University, 1985

Research Categories: Journalism and new media

Current projects: Survey of digital tools in journalism, PebbleWire - Headline app for new wrist watch, AgendaBot - Tool to construct articles from city council agendas

Research Description: New media, fact-checking, digital tools and innovation in journalism

Teaching (Fall 2024):

  • Housecs 59.01, House course (sp top) Synopsis
    Bryan center 005, M 07:00 PM-08:30 PM
  • Jam 371.01, News/moral battleground Synopsis
    Sanford 05, MW 01:25 PM-02:40 PM

Representative Publications   (More Publications)

  1. Adair, B. "Let’s blow up the news story and build new forms of journalism." Poynter Online (June, 2012). [available here]
  2. Adair, B. "Can you handle the truth?." The Walkley Magazine (December, 2012). [politifact-bill-adair-2012]
  3. Adair, B. The Mystery of Flight 427: Inside a Crash Investigation. Smithsonian Press, 2002.
  4. Bill Adair. "Determining If a Politician Is Telling the Truth." Nieman Reports (Summer, 2008). [aspx]

Highlight:
Bill Adair is the Knight Professor of the Practice of Journalism & Public Policy.

One of 25 Knight Chairs at universities around the country, Adair's research and teaching focuses on fact-checking and accountability journalism.

The creator of the Pulitzer Prize-winning website PolitiFact, Adair has been recognized as a leader in fact-checking and digital media. He worked for 24 years as a reporter and editor for the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times) and served as the paper’s Washington Bureau Chief from 2004 to 2013. He launched PolitiFact in 2007 and built it into the largest fact-checking effort in history, with affiliates in 11 states. In 2013, he managed the site’s first international expansion with the launch of PolitiFact Australia. He is the co-founder of the International Fact-Checking Network, the global association of fact-checking organizations.

Adair has lectured about fact-checking and new media at conferences and universities around the world, including SXSW, TEDx Poynter, Harvard University, Columbia University, University of Texas, Louisiana State University, the College of William & Mary, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Shanghai International Studies University, the University of Sydney, Netzwerk Recherche in Germany and the International Festival of Journalism in Italy. He has made hundreds of appearances on television and radio on programs such as the Today Show, Nightline, Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Reliable Sources, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal and the Colbert Report.

His awards include the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting (with the PolitiFact staff), the Manship Prize for New Media in Democratic Discourse and the Everett Dirksen Award for Distinguished Coverage of Congress.

Bio/Profile
Bill Adair is the Knight Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy at the Sanford School for Public Policy. One of 25 Knight Chairs at universities around the country, his research and teaching focuses on computational journalism, new media and government.

The creator of the Pulitzer Prize-winning website PolitiFact, he has been recognized as a leader in new media and accountability journalism. He worked for 24 years as a reporter and editor for the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times) and served as the paper’s Washington Bureau Chief from 2004 to 2013. He launched PolitiFact in 2007 and built it into the largest fact-checking effort in history, with affiliates in 10 states. In 2013, he managed the site’s first international expansion with the launch of PolitiFact Australia.

Adair has lectured about fact-checking and new media at conferences and universities around the world, including SXSW, TEDx Poynter, Harvard University, Columbia University, University of Texas, Louisiana State University, the College of William & Mary, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Shanghai International Studies University, the University of Sydney, Netzwerk Recherche in Germany and the International Festival of Journalism in Italy. He has made hundreds of appearances on television and radio on programs such as the Today Show, Nightline, Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Reliable Sources, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal and the Colbert Report.

His awards include the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting (with the PolitiFact staff), the Manship Prize for New Media in Democratic Discourse and the Everett Dirksen Award for Distinguished Coverage of Congress.

Bill Adair