Every school day, all around the country, nearly 8 million students are watching Channel One's daily public affairs program, a 12-minute mix of news, features and advertisements.

Did I say watching? It might be more accurate to say, "existing in the same general vicinity as," or "dimly aware of." It turns out many of these students are paying even less attention to Channel One than they are to their parents' suggestions about what to wear to the next mixer.

In a paper provocatively titled "Does Television Rot Your Brain?", two University of Chicago economists present what they call "strong evidence against the prevailing wisdom that childhood television viewing causes harm to cognitive or educational development."