I’m director of the International Fact-Checking Network at the Poynter Institute; the network encourages best practices among fact-checkers and monitors information policy around the world. Before that, I was the editor-in-chief of PolitiFact, the national politics fact-checking website that is part of the Poynter Institute. I fact-checked at PolitiFact since its launch in 2007, and I was a reporter on the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for fact-checking the 2008 election. I work at the Poynter office in Washington, D.C.; the Poynter Institute is based in St. Petersburg, Fla.
I served on the advisory board of the International Fact-checking Network from its formation in 2015 until I became director in 2023. I’ve presented on fact-checking methods at the IFCN’s GlobalFact conferences in Seoul, Madrid, Buenos Aires, and London.
I regularly address audiences at colleges and universities. I’ve conducted presentations on fact-checking at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, as well as for students at Beloit College, Georgetown University, Howard University, Louisiana Tech, the University of Colorado – Denver, the University of Iowa, the University of Missouri, the University of South Florida, the University of Texas at Austin and Vanderbilt University.
As an adjunct faculty member, I’ve taught graduate-level journalism students at Georgetown University and undergraduate reporting and writing at the University of Tampa and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
I’ve discussed fact-checking on national television and radio, including CNN, MSNBC, NPR, C-SPAN, the PBS Newshour and Washington Week, among many others.
I hold dual master’s degrees in journalism and library science. I received my MS from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and my MLS from the University of South Florida, an information school accredited by the American Library Association. In 2014, the library school presented me with the Jean Key Gates Distinguished Alumni Award.
I’ve written book reviews of novels and nonfiction for the Tampa Bay Times, Florida’s largest newspaper. Previously, I worked as a researcher and reporter for daily newspapers around the Southeast, covering government, politics, business and the environment.
I’m a native of Louisiana and graduated from the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts, a public magnet high school, and I served on the board of the school’s foundation from 2007 to 2012. I graduated college from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree from its Plan II liberal arts honors program.
I live in Washington, D.C., with my husband Mark Holan, who blogs about Irish-American history and contemporary issues at www.markholan.org.
You can find me on the major social networks: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
You can contact me directly and privately using the form below.
Last updated August 23, 2023