In the pages of the Columbia Journalism Review, the medical and health-policy writer Trudy Lieberman is tossing a laurel to the legacy media–remember the legacy media?–for some nice reporting on childhood obesity.
The medium in question is a kids' magazine called ChopChop, which aims to "get kids in the kitchen." Here is Lieberman:
ChopChop is beautiful, engaging, empowers kids to cook and eat healthy foods, offers recipes even adult foodies will love, and aims to help reduce childhood obesity—the coming scourge of the health care system. For doing all this, ChopChop deserves a CJR laurel.
Whether or not one would call this journalism is an arguable point, but Lieberman is correct to observe that the magazine is sending a message to children and families, which does make it journalism of a sort. The magazine's founder, Sally Sampson, the author of 20 cookbooks, says she wants to "change eating habits one bite at a time."
Pass the kale crisps.
-Paul Raeburn
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