This course introduces you to the political and economic pressures in which contemporary communication professions operate, and situates information literacy, fact-checking and verification as necessary tools within this broader environment. Drawing on RMIT's expertise in fact checking, the course will develop core fact-checking and verification skills that can be applied in mainstream journalism and other Communication fields including Public Relations and Social Media Management.

In the first part of the course, you will consider how the same technological advances that have revolutionised communication and connected people on a previously unthinkable scale have also enabled the spread of mis and disinformation at an unprecedented volume, velocity and virality. You will critically engage with the importance of facts and expertise in rebuilding trust in public institutions including politics and journalism, and how this has given rise to new communication practices including fact-checking.

In the second part of the course, you will explore the evidence-based practice of fact-checking that will provide you with knowledge, skills and experience for critically assessing the veracity of information in the public sphere, and for producing reliable, source-based information for a range of audiences. As well as working with tried and tested means for verifying verbal information, you will also apply tools and techniques for image verification.