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Medical & Science Television Reporting |
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Course Work
Students in the Medical and Science Journalism Program learn how to produce medical news for television in two courses: Medical Reporting for the Electronic Media (JOMC 561), and Science Documentary Television (JOMC 562). During the spring semester of their first post-graduate year, students take Medical Reporting for the Electronic Media. Here, students learn the basics of scripting and producing television reports. The students work in groups to shoot, write and edit television packages for UNC’s biweekly student newscast “Carolina Week.” Students also have the opportunity to get live on-air television experience.
During the fall of their second year in the program, students take Science Documentary Television. In this hands-on course, students produce in-depth television reports for broadcast on North Carolina’s public television network UNC-TV. Reports have included a half-hour documentary on a threatened river system (the Haw River), a series on air pollution problems in the state and another on water quality. In 2005, students traveled to the North Carolina coast to examine the delicate estuarine ecosystem. See the links at the bottom of this page to view the three-part estuary series.
Photo courtesy Mike Oniffrey
Some students also traveled to Faro, Portugal in spring 2006 to collaborate with Portuguese students on a similar project.
Accolades
Student-produced reports consistently have won awards, including regional Emmys and recognition from the Society of Professional Journalists. Two pieces have garnered Midsouth Regional Emmys in the student production category from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The winners were a story about a child with HIV and a report on surviving childhood cancer. Students also have won three first-place prizes and one second-place prize in the television feature and in-depth categories from the Society of Professional Journalists' Mark of Excellence student competition for Region 2 (Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia and North Carolina). All of our award-winning reports can be viewed below using RealPlayer:
| Alcoholism
Producer-Katie Macdonald; associate producers-Will Spicer, Brian Strong; script writer-Michele Blevins.
| | | Asthma and air pollution
Producer-Jennifer Heffernan; associate producer-Annisa Lee; script writer-Maggie Stone.
| | | Depression
Producer-Dotty Hardee; associate producer-Ana Validzic; script writer-Leigh Skinner.
| | | Endangered Estuaries
| | Part 1 - Menhaden Fishery: Producer-Katrina Chmielecki; associate producer-Molly Davis; script writer-Lynn Thomasson | | Part 2 - Habitat Restoration: Producer-Jessica Stubbs, associate producer-Davina Newby; script writer-Yasmeen Khan | | Part 3 - Blue Crab: Producer-Jessica Floyd; associate producer-Charles Schutte; script writer-Kate Schoen
|  | HIV and children
Producer-Dallas Anne Smith; associate producers-Stacey Hoffman, Emily Wissa; script writer-Michael Cassell.
| | Schizophrenia
Producer-Sandra Jacobi; associate producer-Christine Elliott; script writers-Matthew Levchuk, Dana Rosengard.
| | | Sexually transmitted diseases
Producers-Thomas Mann, Pailin Wedel, Sara White; associate producers-Michelle Bank, Jinda Weidel; script writers-Adam Geller, Wes Misson, Anton Zuiker. Click for video reports on herpes simplex/human papilloma viruses, gonorrhea/chlamydia, and HIV.
| | | Sickle cell disease
Producer-Leigh Ellen Martz; associate producer-Cara Siano; script writer-Tim Bajkiewicz.
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| Surviving childhood cancer
Producer-Jeff Novey; associate producers-Chad Helton, Meredith Sinclair; script writers-Kellie Honeycutt, Matthew McCullough.
| | | Uninsured children
Producer-Shanda Setzer; associate producers-Brad Broders, Jon Jacob; script writer-Debra Goldberg.
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If you'd like to view a UNC-TV interview with Dr. Linden about the student projects, click here.
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Current Students 
