ABC Fact Check:
Academic Excellence and Australian Journalism

Deep Industry Partnership

The RMIT ABC Fact Check, established in 2017,  involves a deep-partnership between RMIT University and the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), combining academic excellence and the best of Australian journalism to inform the public through an independent non-partisan voice.

The RMIT ABC Fact Check is funded jointly by RMIT University and the ABC. Because the ABC is a publicly funded, independent media organisation, RMIT ABC Fact Check is accountable to the Australian Parliament and operates as an agenda-free zone.

The RMIT ABC Fact Check assesses the accuracy of statements made by politicians, public figures, advocacy groups and institutions engaged in public debate.

Statements are investigated and can be deemed both right and wrong, depending on when they were said. All verdicts fall into three colour-based categories: in the red, in the green or in between – red being a negative ruling, and green being a positive. The RMIT ABC Fact Check aims to be 100% accurate, but if a mistake is made, the item in question will be corrected and if necessary the verdict revised.

RMIT students undertaking WIL for the RMIT ABC Fact Check are drawn from journalism, animation, public relations, design, professional communications, television and creative writing. The RMIT ABC Fact Check involves students on short and longer placement (30 students over 12 months) and several whole of class WIL projects (150 students over 12 months) as well as employed recent graduates.  Students undertaking WIL work with a Senior Editor and Fact Check Researchers on each Fact Check. RMIT academic staff also work with the team to research the emergence and value of Fact Check journalism in today’s media landscape and mentor the students. The RMIT ABC Fact Check is now linking to other RMIT departments and research centres to undertake projects involving WIL students.

The RMIT ABC Fact Check operates across multiple platforms, including television, radio and online.

Impact / outcomes

Students: The RMIT ABC Fact Check provides students from RMIT with the opportunity to participate in real life media experiences to the professional standards of the ABC. Further students work alongside award winning journalists and expand their professional networks. Students also receive supervision from academic staff.

Industry Partners: The RMIT ABC Fact Check provides an avenue for the ABC to engage with a new generation of journalism, animation, television and creative writing students. These students provide the ABC with a younger perspective. Further, the ABC gains access to state of art RMIT media resources and technology. The ABC also benefits from the access it gains to high quality academic experts influencing students work. The cross pollination of ideas and experience that occurs in the space is highly valuable. 

Teaching Staff: Access to the RMIT ABC Fact Check provides on campus industry relevant WIL experiences for RMIT students and gives the students access to industry professionals.  

Student Assessment

Assessment is completed by each discipline involved based on the course requirements of WIL.

Evaluation

The success of the RMIT ABC  Fact Check is based on whether key performance indicators are reached, the quality of the students work, the student experience and the graduate outcomes of the students involved . The RMIT ABC Fact Check will undertake a review of its achievements following its first year of operation.

An explanation of ABC Fact Check developed by RMIT students: