|
PTC Insider Article
December 2003
2003 Parents
Television Council Victories
PTC Grassroots Take Root Nationwide
The PTC is gaining national recognition for being the
country's
leading force for positive change in the entertainment industry and
the American family's voice in Hollywood.
Newspapers across the country are starting to recognize the PTC's impact. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram had this to say about
the PTC: "Perhaps the strongest and most influential lobbying group
is the Parents Television Council, which can quickly pump up and
then mobilize its 800,000 members to any issue. When the Fox series Keen Eddie aired an episode in which a prostitute was asked to
perform a sex act with a horse - within days the PTC filed 20,000
complaints with the Federal Communications Commission."
The PTC's growing grassroots network has played an important
part in the PTC's ability to mobilize its members across the country to
take action. With more than a dozen active and growing grassroots
chapters nationwide, the networks, network affiliates, the FCC, and
TV sponsors now accept that the PTC is a force to be reckoned with.
The PTC's grassroots activists are already making waves in their
local communities. Below are some of the highlights from this year: "In response to a national PTC initiative, Kansas City Chapter
Director Tim Maupin sent a letter to the local Fox network affiliate
complaining about the content on Fox's Keen Eddie. The station
manager sent a reply to the chapter director which has been dubbed
"The Smoking Gun" by Congressional leaders in the fight to reduce
media ownership of local outlets. In the letter, the station manager states,
"The network, not WDAF (the local affiliate) decided what
shows go on the air for the Fox-owned and operated television
stations," a statement that directly contradicted what network heads
had told Congress in sworn testimony.
Representatives Burr and Dingell cited Maupin's letter in a letter
urging their colleagues in the House of Representatives to halt the
FCC's plans to allow big media companies to buy up more local affiliates.
In Salt Lake City and South Bend, two of the PTC's newest
and most active grassroots cities, a loud outcry initiated by
grassroots chapter directors led to the preemption of NBC's sex-laden
sitcom Coupling on the local NBC affiliates.
When a local Michigan radio show announced the opening
of the Southeast Michigan grassroots chapter, the newly-created
chapter e-mail was so flooded with responses to join, that it crashed
the server of a local internet provider!
Our Southeast Michigan Grassroots chapter director, Rich
Coleman, will be hosting a 30-minute weekly television show on the
local ITV station. The program will spotlight PTC Seal of Approval
winning films and television shows.
PTC Grassroots chapters sent letters to all CBS affiliates asking
them to consider local community decency standards and preempt
the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, which aired in late November.
PTC members reported back to us that CBS affiliates in Amarillo, Texas
and Little Rock, Arkansas refused to air the program.
List of Local PTC Chapters
Other 2003
Victories
|
