Baybars Orsek

Baybars leads efforts to build mission-aligned strategic partnerships that advance the future of local news. With over a decade of experience at the intersection of journalism, partnerships, and philanthropy, Baybars has built and scaled nonprofit newsrooms, supported leaders and organizations inside and outside the United States, secured transformative funding, and forged high-impact alliances across sectors.

Prior to joining the American Journalism Project, he served as director of the International Fact-Checking Network and International Programming at the Poynter Institute, where he led the global fact-checking community through a period of rapid growth and increased global influence. Under his leadership, IFCN expanded to over 80 countries, deepened platform and funder partnerships, and advanced industry standards. He also led Global Fact — the world’s largest fact-checking summit — hosting international editions in Cape Town and Oslo to strengthen cross-border collaboration and catalyze investment in empowering factual journalism.

Baybars later served as vice president of fact-checking at Logically, a tech startup, where he built strategic partnerships with platforms, funders, and civic institutions to scale global information integrity efforts.

He lives in Tampa Bay, Florida, with his wife, daughter, and son — a place they’ve come to love since relocating from Istanbul, Turkey.