January 2001

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'North Carolina Now' airs class-produced reports

Two medical television reports produced by students at the UNC-CH School of Journalism and Mass Communication appeared on UNC-TV's "North Carolina Now" in November.

Students in the School's "Medical Reporting for the Electronic Media" class produced and wrote the reports.

"The students did a superb job on two very complex topics," said Dr. Tom Linden, Glaxo Wellcome Distinguished Professor of Medical Journalism, who taught the class.

The first report, which aired Nov. 27, was an in-depth look at the problem of North Carolina children without health insurance. The report profiled two families enrolled in North Carolina's Children's Health Insurance Program and one family that had no health insurance at all.

The second piece, which aired Nov. 29, reported about the effects of increasing air pollution in the Triangle on one child with asthma. North Carolina is home to five of the 70 counties in the nation with the greatest ozone pollution, and ground-level ozone exacerbates childhood asthma. More than 130,000 children in the state suffer from asthma.

Senior Shanda Setzer produced the uninsured piece. Senior Jon Jacob and sophomore Brad Broders were associate producers, and continuing graduate student Debra Goldberg was the scriptwriter.

Senior Jennifer Heffernan produced the asthma piece, with doctoral candidate Annisa Lee working as associate producer. Master's student Maggie Stone was the scriptwriter.

Linden was the reporter for both pieces.

Previous student-produced medical reports on "North Carolina Now" have won a Midsouth regional Emmy and first and second place in the Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence competition for region two (comprising Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, and North Carolina).

Dr. Tom Linden is the Glaxo Wellcome Distinguished Professor of Medical Journalism.