The Old Boob Tube

Nature checks in on media-effects research. Vaughan comments:

This notable for two reasons: the first is that numerous research studies have found that, as a generalisation, watching television negatively impacts on children's concentration, increases the risk of obesity and interferes with play and communication. The second is that this rarely makes the headlines. Despite studies appearing regularly in the medical literature, it simply isn't fashionable to panic about television - that's so last century.

From the article:

Media-effects researchers also say that their arguments are apt to be treated, by the public and even by other scientists, as old-fashioned arguments about the immorality of popular-media content, now dressed up as modern health issues. Yet Rich insists that the difference between moral issues and health issues is real and may be crucial in convincing people to change their media-consumption habits. "The moral issue has helped to stalemate this," he says. "People have different value systems. But if you present them clear data that show what the effect of this media content is on that health outcome, you can get them to agree."