Parents Television and Media Council

This article is about the nonprofit group that rates TV shows. For the TV guidelines and list of advisories, see TV Parental Guidelines.

Parents Television and Media Council
Formation1995; 29 years ago (1995)
FounderL. Brent Bozell III
TypeAdvocacy group
Focus"Bringing back responsibility and family values to the entertainment industry"
HeadquartersAlexandria, Virginia and Los Angeles, California
Location
  • United States
MethodMedia attention, direct-appeal campaigns
Membership
12,000 (disputed)
Key people
L. Brent Bozell III (founder), Jon Yasuda (president), Tim Winter (president emeritus)
Websiteparentstv.org
Formerly called
Parents Television Council (1995-2021)
[1]

The Parents Television and Media Council (PTMC), formerly the Parents Television Council (PTC), is an American media advocacy group founded by conservative political pundit L. Brent Bozell III in 1995, which advocates for what it considers to be responsible, family-friendly content across all media platforms, and for advertisers to be held accountable for the content of television programs that they sponsor. The PTMC officially describes itself as a non-partisan organization, although the group has also been described as partisan and socially conservative.

The PTMC produces reviews, research reports, and online newsletters that highlight television programs and other entertainment products (such as music videos and video games) based on their suitability for family viewing. The PTMC has advocated for cable television networks to be subject to the same decency rules as broadcast television, and for television providers to allow subscribers to purchase channels on an individual basis. The group has also been critical of the TV Parental Guidelines system, often deeming the ratings given by broadcasters to be inaccurate in comparison to their own assessments of a program's content.

It has mounted pressure campaigns against the producers, broadcasters, and sponsors of programming that they perceive to be indecent or harmful to children (such as those containing undue sexual content, profane language, and violence); these campaigns typically include the organized mass mailing of form letters and emails to advertising sponsors of unapproved programs, organized mass filing of complaints via the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) website complaint form, and direct threats of long, potentially costly FCC license challenges to local network affiliates planning to broadcast what the council considers harmful network programming.[2]

Throughout its existence, the Parents Television and Media Council has been accused of promoting censorship.[3] In 2004, the FCC reported that the group was the primary source of most content complaints received by the commission.[1]

  1. ^ a b Barnes, Brooks (October 25, 2010). "TV Watchdog Group Is on the Defensive". The New York Times. p. B1. Archived from the original on December 30, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  2. ^ Abrams, Natalie (May 20, 2010). "Parents Council Protests CBS' $#*! My Dad Says". TV Guide. Archived from the original on May 23, 2010. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  3. ^ "Parents Television Council REALLY Loves the Sin". Psychology Today. Retrieved July 13, 2015.