Local Limelight: PolitiFact founder and Duke University professor Bill Adair
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Bill Adair, a Pulitzer Prize winner and professor at Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy, founded PolitiFact in 2007 to push back against what he saw as a growing trend of lying in politics.
- Nearly two decades later that problem has not only persisted but seems to have gotten worse, including widespread misinformation during Hurricane Helene.
Driving the news: This month Adair published "Beyond the Big Lie," a reflection on lying and misinformation in politics and how we might begin to fix its problems.
- On Oct. 24, Adair and fellow Duke professor Frank Bruni will give a talk on the book at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill.
What they're saying: Despite the growing political epidemic of lying, Adair, who is no longer affiliated with PolitiFact, still believes in the mission of fact-checking.
- "I think one reason that politicians are still lying in such a huge volume is that there are not enough fact checkers," Adair said.
- He notes that roughly half of the states don't have media outlets regularly doing fact-checking, and that most Congress members don't get fact-checked.
We talked with Adair for our latest Local Limelight conversation. The Q&A has been edited for Smart Brevity.
✍️ What is your writing routine? I am an early-morning writer. To write the book I was getting up at 4am.
- There were two things that kept me going: One was coffee from Counter Culture. I'm a loyalist to Counter Culture, which is based in Durham. And my wife would leave me these wonderful notes that would greet me every morning, and they really gave me energy.
🍕 Favorite place to eat in the Triangle: Pizzeria Mercato. Fellow Duke journalism professor Frank Bruni introduced me to it.
🎓 What brought you to the Triangle? Duke University. When the Knight Chair position opened in 2013, they asked me to apply.
📖 Last great book you read: I am currently reading "The Power Broker" by Robert Caro. He is such a role model for in-depth reporting.
- Recently, a tremendous novel I finished was "Yellowface" by R.F. Kuang.
📱 First thing you read in the morning: I read on an iPad, and I'll start with the New York Times. Then I do Wordle, and then I look at Axios Raleigh, I look at Axios AM, I look at the INDY Week newsletter.
🎧 Go-to podcast: Vox's "Today, Explained."
🧘♂️ How do you unplug? A friend and I go to yoga and then grab a coffee after. It's sort of the modern equivalent of the neighborhood bar. The go-to coffee shop is typically Cloche in Durham.
🐱 Do you have pets? Two cats. Maeve, who runs the house, and Louie, who has a goofball personality that matches the song "Louie, Louie."
⚾️ What is the Triangle missing? Watching the NLCS and the ALCS makes me realize how much I love Major League Baseball. And I say that as a loyal Durham Bulls fan and a partial season ticket holder.
- But there's just something special about Major League Baseball, and I would love to see it in the Triangle.
🏀 What you're looking forward to: Duke basketball. I split season tickets with someone.
📝 What have you learned from teaching: The importance of clarity. Teaching journalism has made me a better writer and editor because as you talk about writing year after year, you really get focused on what is clear prose.
🍽️ If you could pass a law, what would it be? You would hope that the journalism guy from Duke would be like, "Let's pass a law about media literacy."
- But I want to require that waiters write down your order. It would be a simple law because there's nothing more frustrating than having a waiter sit there and try to memorize what six people are having, and then inevitably, they come back and they're like, "Wait, did you say don't want mustard on that?"