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  • ABOUT
    • ABOUT US
    • WHAT WE DO
    • OUR TEAM
    • OUR PARTNERS
  • PROJECTS
    • CULTURAL AUDITS >
      • What is a cultural audit?
      • Charitable Giving
      • Criminal Justice
      • Health Equity
      • Poverty Narratives
    • ENTERTAINMENT >
      • Abortion on TV
      • Asian Representation in Media
      • Caregiving
      • Climate Change >
        • Climate Change in Scripted TV
        • Climate Change in Unscripted TV
        • Plastic Pollution
      • Domestic Workers
      • Gun Safety
      • Ideology & Entertainment
      • Immigration Representation
      • Jewish Representation
      • Mental Health
      • Native Representation
      • Technology
    • DOCUMENTARY FILM >
      • America Divided
      • Food, Inc.
      • The Social Dilemma
      • Waiting for Superman
    • INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH >
      • Africa Research
      • Cultural Diplomacy
      • MENA Research
    • JOURNALISM >
      • Case Studies
      • Impact Journalism
      • Science Journalism
      • Virtual Reality
    • SCIENCE & EVALUATION OF MEDIA IMPACT >
      • Narrative Change Strategy
      • Pop Culture for Social Change
      • Resources
  • PUBLICATIONS
  • PRESS & EVENTS
    • In the News
    • Events
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT

NARRATIVE CHANGE
STRATEGY

Shifting Narrative Change into High Gear

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As narrative change approaches gain ground in philanthropy and advocacy circles, many questions remain about the strategy. Our recent learning project, in collaboration with the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), begins to answer some of these questions.

Narrative change refers to strategies that harness the power of narratives — in entertainment, in news, in movement spaces, and in the broader culture — to shift public mindsets and generate culture change toward equity and justice. Based on several sources of evidence, we distilled 25 best practices into a Strategic Investment Framework designed to inform and maximize the impact of investments in narrative-based strategies. 

Use the framework.
Read the final report.
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Research to Inform the Framework

  • Lights, Camera, Impact: 20 Years of Research on the Power of Entertainment to Support Narrative Change

  • Narrative Change and Impact: Analysis of In-Depth Interviews with Experts, Practitioners, and Funders in the Narrative Change Field

  • Exploring Factors Associated with Impact in Entertainment-Driven Narrative Change: A Case Study of Hollywood, Health & Society Projects, 2012-2021
    Research Highlights

  • A Deep-Dive Case Study of Hollywood, Health & Society’s Work on Maternal Health (2016-2023)

  • A Deep-Dive Case Study of Hollywood, Health & Society’s Work on Narratives of Nuclear Threats (2015-2022)


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Research Yields Best Practices

Director of Research Erica Rosenthal and Research Associate Ksenia Korobkova have distilled our findings into his latest entry on the California Health Care Foundation blog!

Read it here.
The Norman Lear Center's Media Impact Project researches how entertainment and news influence our thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and actions. We work with researchers, the film and TV industry, nonprofits, and news organizations, and share our research with the public. We are part of the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.