Bill Rankin

Senior legal affairs reporter Bill Rankin, the newspaper’s legal affairs reporter, has worked for the AJC for more than 30 years. Since 2015, he has been the host and narrator of the AJC’s Breakdown podcast. Covering the state’s court system has allowed Bill to cover some of Georgia’s most sensational trials: Atlanta lawyer Fred Tokars, NFL star Ray Lewis, the infamous Gold Club and the hot-car case against Justin Ross Harris. Bill has also conducted lengthy investigations that exposed inequities and breakdowns in Georgia’s indigent defense system, its administration of the death penalty and its civil and criminal justice systems. Bill is a product of the city of Atlanta’s public school system, and his father, Jim Rankin, worked as an editor for the newspaper for 26 years before retiring in 1986. Ralph McGill, the former Pulitizer Prize-winning editor of The Atlanta Constitution, gave Bill his first dog, a dachshund named Heidi. Bill is happily married to Carol, the love of his life and who he first met in a 10th grade high school typing class. He’s also the extremely proud father of James, Sylvia and Errol. Bill can be reached at william.rankin@ajc.com and on Twitter @ajccourts.

Biography:  https://www.ajc.com/staff/bill-rankin/

63%

The overall score is a weighted number that takes into account conflict of interest, bias, deception and other practices that undermines the credibility of the source. It is calculated as:
Analysis.OverallConflictOfInterestScore * 0.3F + Analysis.OverallBiasScore * 0.3F + Analysis.DeceptivenessScore * 0.3F + Analysis.ReadabilityScore * 0.1F

A score that takes into consideration the content for flow, interruptions with ads, and overt search engine optimization techniques that makes the content hard to understand

The Daily's Verdict

This author has a mixed reputation for journalistic standards. It is advisable to fact-check, scrutinize for bias, and check for conflicts of interest before relying on the author's reporting.

Bias

85%

Examples:

  • The article uses language that dehumanizes and demonizes one side as extreme or unreasonable
  • There is evidence of political bias in the article

Conflicts of Interest

50%

Examples:

  • The author may have a personal or professional relationship with one of the parties involved in the case
  • There is no disclosure of any potential conflicts of interest by the author

Contradictions

100%

Examples:

No current examples available.

Deceptions

50%

Examples:

  • The article claims that Fani Willis benefited financially from her relationship with Nathan Wade, stating that he paid for their vacations and hotel stays with taxpayer money he made for his work on the election case. However, it does not provide any evidence to support this claim.
  • The article states that 'Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee' will hear the testimony of Fani Willis and Nathan Wade, but it does not mention any other judge or court where they were subpoenaed to testify. This is a lie by omission.

Recent Articles

Fani Willis and Special Prosecutor Subpoenaed to Testify in Georgia Election Interference Case Hearing on February 15th

Fani Willis and Special Prosecutor Subpoenaed to Testify in Georgia Election Interference Case Hearing on February 15th

Broke On: Wednesday, 31 January 2024 Fani Willis and special prosecutor Wade have been subpoenaed to testify at a hearing on February 15th in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump. Michael Roman's representative, Ashleigh Merchant, has accused them of profiting significantly from their work on the case by allowing Wade to pay for vacations across the world with her that were unrelated to their work.