The Foundation conducts research concerning the relationship between entertainment media and health, with a special focus on children and media. The purpose of the research is to provide data to help inform policymakers, journalists, the research community, healthcare providers, the media industry, and the public.

Major research projects include such topics as how teens use the Internet for health information; the amount of time children of all ages spend watching TV, playing video games, using computers, and reading; sexual messages on television; how health policy issues are portrayed on TV’s medical dramas; what viewers learn from health information in entertainment shows; the role of media in childhood obesity; and the impact of media-based public health campaigns. The Foundation also studies public policies on related media topics, including public service advertising on television, TV ratings, the V-Chip, and the impact of Internet filtering.