Parents Television Council - Because Our Children Are Watching

PTC Applauds FCC’s Report on Violent Television

Industry Must Show Responsibility; Research Proves Violence is Harmful to Children

“I congratulate all five Commissioners for tackling head-on a very vexing issue in our society today. While violence has been part of dramatic story-telling for millennia, the violence on television today is shockingly graphic and offensively gratuitous and it is being pumped directly into every home in the nation on a daily basis. The scientific community has repeatedly stated its consensus opinion that such material poses a grave risk, particularly to children. With its report, the FCC has taken its public interest obligation seriously in addressing the issue and offering a broad range of solutions,” said PTC™ President Tim Winter. ► more

GE Censors PTC at Annual Shareholder Meeting

Spokesman Interrupted While Asking NBC to Stop Broadcasting Violent, Profane and Sexually Graphic Programming

Although Mr. Isett, PTC’s Director of Corporate and Government Affairs, was authorized to attend the meeting and was within the time allotted for attendees to speak, his statement was interrupted and his opportunity to conclude his remarks was precluded. Additionally, it appears that GE ceased its live webcast of the meeting at the conclusion of prepared remarks by its Chairman, Jeff Immelt, thus preventing its shareholders around the globe from hearing any negative comments raised during the meeting. ► more

► Click here to read excerpts from Mr. Isett’s statement.

Prominent Pro-Family Organizations and Individuals Join Growing Chorus for Cable Choice

The Parents Television Council praised the National Religious Broadcasters for joining a large and growing number of pro-family organizations that are supporting cable choice, the ability for consumers to choose and pay for only the cable networks they want. Despite recent news reports indicating religious broadcasters did not favor cable choice, NRB recently expressed support for the concept of cable choice in a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. ► more

New PTC Report Gives TV Networks an "F" for Failing to Accurately Rate Their Programs

A new Parents Television Council study released at the National Association of Broadcasters convention revealed that the television ratings system is still not accurate, and thus grossly unreliable, due to the fact that content descriptors are being arbitrarily and inconsistently applied by the broadcast networks during prime time viewing hours. Two-thirds of the shows reviewed containing potentially offensive content lacked one or more of the appropriate content descriptors, which render the ratings system and V-chip virtually useless. ► more

► To read the study, The Ratings Sham II, Click Here.

PTC Says Racist and Anti-Semitic Cable Fare Underscores Need for Cable Choice

Victims of Hateful Programming Should Not Be Forced To Underwrite It

The Parents Television Council renewed its call for the cable industry to provide true cable choice to consumers so that those who have been offended by the recent spate of racist, sexist and anti-Semitic content are not forced to subsidize such material. In addition to the recent racist and sexist remarks by MSNBC Host Don Imus, the PTC has seen a growing trend in even more shocking, more graphic and more offensive racist, ethnic and religious attacks on advertiser-supported basic cable programs. ► more

PTC Declares the Industry's V-Chip Education Campaign a Failure

New Zogby Poll Data Shows Blocking Technologies Aren't Used and Aren't Understood

The Parents Television Council gave the television industry a failing grade on a "Progress Report" of the combined $550 million dollar advertising campaigns created to teach parents about the television ratings system. To provide evidence of the failure, the PTC released the results of questions conducted on two Zogby International polls in September 2006 and March 2007. The polls correspond to the genesis of and the reporting deadline of The TV Boss campaign.

► Click here to see the results of the polls.

► Click here to read the remarks of Tim Winter Regarding PTC's Zogby-Commissioned Questions.