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Parents Television and Media Council
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 non-partisan.
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.
Throughout its existence, the Parents Television and Media Council has been accused of promoting censorship. In 2004, the FCC reported that the group was the primary source of most content complaints received by the commission. Beginning around 2008, donations to the organization declined, forcing job cuts. In 2025, the PTMC filed for bankruptcy.
In 1989, the Media Research Center (MRC) began monitoring the entertainment industry for alleged liberal bias through its Entertainment Division and newsletter TV, etc. MRC founder and president L. Brent Bozell III later felt that "decency" was declining on most prime-time television programming. The PTC began operations in 1995 following private planning meetings with Charlton Heston, Michael Medved, and others in the entertainment industry, who would eventually make up the advisory board of the PTC. After the release of its first annual Family Guide to Prime-Time Television following the 1995–1996 television season, the PTC hoped to hold the entertainment industry accountable for the indecency that it perceived to be prominent on prime-time television. By 1996, the organization had the support of several members of the U.S. Congress, including Joe Lieberman and Lamar S. Smith, and an estimated annual budget of $142,000.
By 1998, with an estimated membership of 120,000, comedian and former The Tonight Show host Steve Allen joined PTC as its Honorary Chairman, and PTC released a report questioning the accuracy of the TV Parental Guidelines ratings system and campaigning for advertisers to stop sponsoring programs that the PTC claimed were offensive. Allen launched a newspaper advertisement campaign promoting the PTC, which was published in many outlets including The New York Times. The PTC was noted for criticizing such shows as Ally McBeal, Dawson's Creek, Ellen, Friends, and Spin City. Its website was also introduced that year, and its annual budget had already surpassed $1 million. PTC rolled out another round of full-page newspaper advertisements in 1999; San Francisco Examiner television columnist Tim Goodman perceived Allen and the PTC of advocating complete censorship of television to allow only what PTC considered "Family-Safe TV".
The PTC lost nearly $1 million in 2008 and in 2009 received $2.9 million in revenue, a 29% drop from the previous year. In 2009 and 2010, the PTC cut its staff by 38 percent to save money.
On April 14, 2021, the organization changed its name to the Parents Television and Media Council "to better reflect its mission to advocate for responsible entertainment on all entertainment media platforms".
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Parents Television and Media Council
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 non-partisan.
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.
Throughout its existence, the Parents Television and Media Council has been accused of promoting censorship. In 2004, the FCC reported that the group was the primary source of most content complaints received by the commission. Beginning around 2008, donations to the organization declined, forcing job cuts. In 2025, the PTMC filed for bankruptcy.
In 1989, the Media Research Center (MRC) began monitoring the entertainment industry for alleged liberal bias through its Entertainment Division and newsletter TV, etc. MRC founder and president L. Brent Bozell III later felt that "decency" was declining on most prime-time television programming. The PTC began operations in 1995 following private planning meetings with Charlton Heston, Michael Medved, and others in the entertainment industry, who would eventually make up the advisory board of the PTC. After the release of its first annual Family Guide to Prime-Time Television following the 1995–1996 television season, the PTC hoped to hold the entertainment industry accountable for the indecency that it perceived to be prominent on prime-time television. By 1996, the organization had the support of several members of the U.S. Congress, including Joe Lieberman and Lamar S. Smith, and an estimated annual budget of $142,000.
By 1998, with an estimated membership of 120,000, comedian and former The Tonight Show host Steve Allen joined PTC as its Honorary Chairman, and PTC released a report questioning the accuracy of the TV Parental Guidelines ratings system and campaigning for advertisers to stop sponsoring programs that the PTC claimed were offensive. Allen launched a newspaper advertisement campaign promoting the PTC, which was published in many outlets including The New York Times. The PTC was noted for criticizing such shows as Ally McBeal, Dawson's Creek, Ellen, Friends, and Spin City. Its website was also introduced that year, and its annual budget had already surpassed $1 million. PTC rolled out another round of full-page newspaper advertisements in 1999; San Francisco Examiner television columnist Tim Goodman perceived Allen and the PTC of advocating complete censorship of television to allow only what PTC considered "Family-Safe TV".
The PTC lost nearly $1 million in 2008 and in 2009 received $2.9 million in revenue, a 29% drop from the previous year. In 2009 and 2010, the PTC cut its staff by 38 percent to save money.
On April 14, 2021, the organization changed its name to the Parents Television and Media Council "to better reflect its mission to advocate for responsible entertainment on all entertainment media platforms".