Buffington Targets TV's Health Stories
October 30, 2009 1:00 PM
Sandra de Castro Buffington of the USC Norman Lear Center held a congressional staff briefing with the compelling title of “Hollywood, Health and the Hill: How TV Storylines Improve the Health of Minority Communities” on Oct. 16.
Buffington, director of the Hollywood, Health and Society program at the Lear Center, part of the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, spoke with guest panelist Zoanne Clack, a supervising producer of the ABC series Grey’s Anatomy.
“Research shows that nearly two-thirds of regular viewers report learning something new about health from TV storylines and one-third take action on what they’ve learned,” said Buffington, who added that writers contact her program to access highly credible experts to ensure a health storyline is on track. “We work with dozens of shows and respond to hundreds of requests by writers each year,” she said. The topics range from diabetes to organ donation.
While in Washington, Buffington met with staff from the offices of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Reps. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) and Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) to discuss the program’s work on global health.
TAGS: health
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