AAP FactCheck team

Peter Bodkin AAP FactCheck Editor

Peter has more than a decade of experience as an editor and journalist. He joined AAP from Storyful’s Australian bureau, where he was deputy editor with a focus on online misinformation. He previously worked in Ireland as investigations editor at TheJournal.ie and as editor of business news title Fora.ie, as well as spending several years as a reporter with News Corp in Australia, including with the Daily Telegraph in Sydney. Peter is committed to AAP’s core principles of accuracy, impartiality and fairness.

James Lane AAP FactCheck Deputy Editor

James joined AAP in 1999 after several years working as a journalist for newspapers in the NSW Hunter Valley and a stint freelance writing in London. He helped establish AAP’s digital operations during the late 1990s/early 2000s before becoming Sydney bureau deputy editor and later moving into roles in news production and features. James was also part of a three-year project to improve AAP’s editorial, news, data and content delivery systems.

William Summers AAP FactCheck Journalist

William is a British-born journalist living in Melbourne. He has written for publications including ABC News, The Guardian, The New Daily and Crikey, and was a Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism finalist in 2017. William has a background in science and academic communications, having previously worked for the Royal Statistical Society in London, the Australian National Data Service and Australian universities.

David Williams AAP FactCheck Journalist – New Zealand

David is an Australian journalist based in Auckland, New Zealand. He is published as an investigative journalist and has many years’ experience as both a metro daily journalist and regional newspaper editor with the former Rural Press. In New Zealand, he has worked as an academic and news magazine publisher. In 2015, his book Message to My Girl with Dr Jared Noel was a top-10 bestseller for several weeks.

Nik Dirga AAP FactCheck Journalist – New Zealand

Nik Dirga is an editor and journalist who has lived in New Zealand since 2006. He has worked for newspapers across the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and has written for publications and websites including the New Zealand Herald, Radio New Zealand, The Spinoff and the NZ Listener.

George Driver AAP FactCheck Journalist – New Zealand

George has worked at a number of New Zealand media outlets and his freelance work has appeared in publications including RNZ, The Spinoff and the Sunday Star Times. George’s fact-checking work is focused on the New Zealand election and referenda. He holds a first class honours degree in political studies and wrote his dissertation on economic policy and inequality in NZ. George was awarded Journalist of the Year, Consumer Special Interest, at the 2018 the Magazine Publishers Association awards for his work for Wilderness magazine.

Holly Nott Managing Editor

Holly brings more than 25 years of journalistic experience to her role as Managing Editor of AAP. In this key role Holly supports the daily operations of the AAP newswire and oversees the overall development and operation of AAP FactCheck, which she helped to establish in early 2019. Holly is a founding member of the AAP Standards Committee, overseeing editorial standards and advising on matters of ethics and internal policy. She is AAP’s representative on the media industry regulatory body, the Australian Press Council.