A two-part online course on Wednesday and Friday, April 22 and 24, 2026, 2-3:15 p.m. EDT.
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If you’re developing a documentary, investigative story or historical project, this course offers a clear overview of the essential tools, practices and considerations. You’ll learn how to research archival material and apply core journalistic investigative practices, and you’ll gain an understanding of why primary sourcing is the gold standard. This course will present key legal considerations around fair use and copyright and will teach you best practices for verifying sources to avoid deepfakes, misinformation and other credibility risks.
Online classroom includes:
Access to live guest speaker sessions
Recordings of live sessions
Resources for people just getting started with media research
Discussion groups for peer support and connection
Live sessions run on Wednesday and Friday, April 22 and 24, 2026. You can join live or watch recordings at your convenience.
For course support, contact ap@edmaker.co.
Register now! Early bird tickets are $99 until March 11. (Standard rate is $199.)
Program
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Part 1: Research and investigative fact-checking
Wednesday, April 22, 2026, 2-3:15 p.m. EDT
Develop skills in surfacing archival material from primary and secondary sources.
Session 1: Introduction to media archives and their importance
This session will cover:
The differences between historical, biographical, investigative/true crime and narrative documentaries
Working with scripts and directors to source archive imagery to enhance storytelling
Where and how to access archival materials audio, photography and footage (digital and physical)
Ethical considerations if using generative AI
The types of libraries best for certain kinds of research (academic, scientific, federal, state historical, foundation)
We’ll share a case study of a produced documentary with examples of hard-to-locate materials.
Speaker
To be announced
Session 2: Best practices for digital asset management
Learn tips and best practices for pre-production research and understand the pitfalls of searching online. The session will cover:
What is Digital Asset Management practice: metadata, taxonomy, sourcing
Why Digital Asset Management matters in an AI landscape
How to use it for library research
How to organize and track assets for production (audio, photo, footage, ephemera) and understand formats
Speaker
Lucy Smee, head of AP Archive Research UK, The Associated Press
Session 3: Best practices of investigative journalism
Learn techniques from an investigative journalist at the AP. We’ll discuss complex investigations and how reporters work on them.
The session will cover how to:
Know what government records exist and where to access them (Freedom of Information Act releases, court filings, census data, legislation).
File focused FOIA requests, track responses, understand exemptions and use appeals when needed.
Locate and analyze court records to extract timelines, evidence and key parties.
Use census and legislative data to identify trends, context and policymaking impacts.
Verify authenticity, interpret findings for patterns or accountability gaps and document all sourcing.
Speaker
To be announced
Part 2: Rights and reality: Fair use, copyright and AI
Friday, April 24, 2026, 2-3:15 p.m. EDT
Understand your rights and responsibilities around surfacing and using media in documentaries, narrative films, commercial projects and other media presentations to avoid legal pitfalls. The session will explore how to research through public news sources versus privately owned content, and the copyright implications of each. It will also cover how AI is changing perceptions of historical documentation.
Session 1: Overview of copyright law as it applies to media
We’ll break down the differences between fair use and public domain and will explain how to understand Creative Commons licenses. The session includes examples of copyright infringement versus strong fair uses, as well as providing a framework for understanding fair use factors and applying them to your creative projects.
Overview of copyright law as it applies to media
Breaking down the differences of fair use and public domain
How to understand Creative Commons
Speaker
Ian Rosenberg, VP and associate general counsel, The Associated Press
Session 2: Deepfakes and AI
This session will cover how to detect manipulated or AI-generated photos and videos and how to use verification tools to analyze metadata, do reverse image searches and learn video forensics. We’ll share a case study of historical fact-checking with AI.
Misinformation versus disinformation: understanding intent (if it’s too good to be true, it probably is)
Spotting manipulated or AI-generated photos and videos
Verification tools: metadata analysis, reverse image search, video forensics
Tools for metadata analysis, reverse image search and video verification
AI and hallucinations
Speaker
To be announced
Session 3: An inside look into AP news video production
This session will cover how to quickly assess user-generated content for breaking news stories.
Using third party content and UGC in storytelling: opportunities and risks
Cross-referencing and triangulation methods to fact-check sources
Understanding best practices related to AI in news development
Vetting third party sourced materials
We’ll share a case study of a hard-to-clear breaking news story.
Speaker
To be announced