Bill Adair's guest appearances

Bill Adair

The MediaShift Podcast

Fourth Estate

TBS eFM This Morning

Mr. Media Interviews by Bob Andelman

MediaShift Podcast

NB Teen Podcast

Building a New America with Jonathan Arias

Charlotte Stewart

Richard Kramer

Debbie Zoller

Alex Vitale

Martin Popoff

Paul Nelson

Dave Brubeck

Jennifer Finnigan

Mark Schultz

Lois Lane

Laura Tingle

Steven Gore

Chris Browne

Adrian Pasdar

Jeff Morris

OwlTail

Thomas Jefferson is quoted as saying that "a properly functioning democracy depends on an informed electorate."   If a government is by the people, and for the people, – as the Constitution says – then knowledge is an indispensable ingredient to a democracy.  When Jefferson said this, he couldn’t have possibly predicted the powerful technologies we possess now.  Before the internet, the barrier to knowledge was that information wasn't readily available.  Today, ironically the problem is that there’s too much information - and to make matters even worse, there’s an overabundance of misinformation.   Consider the term 'fake news.'  It's a notorious term that became infamous just a few years ago.  And debates are still occurring on whether it influenced the 2016 election.  But fake news has always been around.  Propaganda is nothing new.  When I was a kid, I remember being in the supermarket and seeing this tabloid newspaper called 'Weekly World News.'  It’s still around.  The paper always caught my attention because it featured a story about a 'batboy.'  On the cover was a boy with very pale skin, large, oval-shaped ears and sharp teeth with his mouth wide open, screaming.  This picture always confused me because it was right next to other newspapers like the NY Post and the Daily News.  At 8 years old, I didn’t know if it was real or fake. False information has been prevalent in history.  But the issue we face now is that the internet - particularly social media - allows it to proliferate at unprecedented levels.  I personally have blocked a number of pages and people that peddle outrageous conspiracies.  I've told friends that post dubious stories on Facebook, to consider taking it down.  And I've even gone as far as disabling my account in order to give my mind a break from all the information.  But unfortunately, we can't stick our heads in the sand forever.  False information flooding social media, whether from domestic or foreign sources, undermines our trust in the electoral process.  This flood of false information presses people’s emotional buttons, so that they lose the ability to vote with their heads, and often discourages them from voting at all.  According to Richard Hasen, in his new book Election Meltdown, there are four factors that drive voter distrust and cynicism: voter suppression; administrative incompetence in running elections; dirty tricks, both domestic and foreign; and incendiary rhetoric, especially from candidates and people in power.  That’s why democracy gets undermined by false information; it creates distrust for the very process we rely on to choose representative government.  Moreover, it’s not just making people believe false things—a new Pew Research study suggests it’s also making them less likely to consume or accept information.So how do you distinguish fact from fiction?  How do we remain an informed electorate as Thomas Jefferson said?      In this episode, we’ll be discussing how you can fact check statements made by politicians and pundits in this era of mass information and mass misinformation.  Our special guest today is Bill Adair, he’s the founder of the Pulitzer Prize-winning website Politifact, a nonpartisan, nonprofit and independent website dedicated to fact-checking statements made by politicians and pundits.  Mr. Adair is also the Knight Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University, where he specializes in journalism and new media, with an emphasis on structured journalism and fact-checking.  

Thomas Jefferson is quoted as saying that "a properly functioning democracy depends on an informed electorate."   If a government is by the people, and for the people, – as the Constitution says – then knowledge is an indispensable ingredient to a democracy.  When Jefferson said this, he couldn’t have possibly predicted the powerful technologies we possess now.   Before the internet, the barrier to knowledge was that information wasn't readily available.  Today, ironically the problem is that there’s too much information - and to make matters even worse, there’s an overabundance of misinformation.    Consider the term 'fake news.'  It's a notorious term that became infamous just a few years ago.  And debates are still occurring on whether it influenced the 2016 election.   But fake news has always been around.  Propaganda is nothing new.  When I was a kid, I remember being in the supermarket and seeing this tabloid newspaper called 'Weekly World News.'  It’s still around.   The paper always caught my attention because it featured a story about a 'batboy.'   On the cover was a boy with very pale skin, large, oval-shaped ears and sharp teeth with his mouth wide open, screaming.  This picture always confused me because it was right next to other newspapers like the NY Post and the Daily News.  At 8 years old, I didn’t know if it was real or fake.  False information has been prevalent in history.  But the issue we face now is that the internet - particularly social media - allows it to proliferate at unprecedented levels.   I personally have blocked a number of pages and people that peddle outrageous conspiracies.  I've told friends that post dubious stories on Facebook, to consider taking it down.  And I've even gone as far as disabling my account in order to give my mind a break from all the information.   But unfortunately, we can't stick our heads in the sand forever.   False information flooding social media, whether from domestic or foreign sources, undermines our trust in the electoral process.  This flood of false information presses people’s emotional buttons, so that they lose the ability to vote with their heads, and often discourages them from voting at all.   According to Richard Hasen, in his new book Election Meltdown, there are four factors that drive voter distrust and cynicism: voter suppression; administrative incompetence in running elections; dirty tricks, both domestic and foreign; and incendiary rhetoric, especially from candidates and people in power.   That’s why democracy gets undermined by false information; it creates distrust for the very process we rely on to choose representative government.  Moreover, it’s not just making people believe false things—a new Pew Research study suggests it’s also making them less likely to consume or accept information. So how do you distinguish fact from fiction?  How do we remain an informed electorate as Thomas Jefferson said?       In this episode, we’ll be discussing how you can fact check statements made by politicians and pundits in this era of mass information and mass misinformation.   Our special guest today is Bill Adair, he’s the founder of the Pulitzer Prize-winning website Politifact, a nonpartisan, nonprofit and independent website dedicated to fact-checking statements made by politicians and pundits.   Mr. Adair is also the Knight Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University, where he specializes in journalism and new media, with an emphasis on structured journalism and fact-checking.

#13 - Finding Truth with Politifact Founder Bill Adair

Fake news is a hot topic that evokes lots of emotion in the United States and around the world. Bill Adair, Knight Professor of Journalism at Duke University and creator of Politifact, helps listeners decipher between truth and lies on the internet and in the news.  NB Teen is a fun and powerful podcast that encourages teens and tweens to live their best lives! 

Fake news is a hot topic that evokes lots of emotion in the United States and around the world. Bill Adair, Knight Professor of Journalism at Duke University and creator of Politifact, helps listeners decipher between truth and lies on the internet and in the news.  NB Teen is a fun and powerful podcast that encourages teens and tweens to live their best lives!

What's Real About Fake News with Bill Adair

This week we speak with Bill Adair who is the founder of the Pulitzer Prize-winning website PolitiFact and Knight Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University. Peter Fray chatted with Bill about how you make facts count and can you actually keep our leaders honest in real time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we speak with Bill Adair who is the founder of the Pulitzer Prize-winning website PolitiFact and Knight Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University. Peter Fray chatted with Bill about how you make facts count and can you actually keep our leaders honest in real time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Bill Adair on PolitiFact

From 2010: If you’re going to get called on the carpet for something you did right, might as well be by Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central’s whirlwind of truthiness, “The Colbert Report.” That’s what happened about a week ago to Bill Adair, Pulitzer Prize winning editor of Politifact.com, the online fact-checking operation spawned by the St. Petersburg Times.

From 2010: If you’re going to get called on the carpet for something you did right, might as well be by Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central’s whirlwind of truthiness, “The Colbert Report.” That’s what happened about a week ago to Bill Adair, Pulitzer Prize winning editor of <a href="http://Politifact.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Politifact.com</a>, the online fact-checking operation spawned by the St. Petersburg Times.