The “L-word.” It took some time for journalists to call a lie a lie when politicians uttered provable falsehoods. After all, don’t all politicians stretch the truth when it comes to policies, opponents or their own accomplishments?

Bill Adair, an award-winning journalist and educator, shares his thoughts and experiences in his book “Beyond the Big Lie: The Epidemic of Political Lying, Why Republicans Do It More, and How It Could Burn Down Our Democracy.” The creator of PolitiFact, the Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking site, and co-founder of the International Fact-Checking Network has ideas about the problem — and possible remedies. Adair is a professor of journalism and public policy at Duke University and a leader in the effort to combat misinformation. And, at the end of a year chock-full of election rhetoric to analyze, he is my guest and guide on Equal Time.