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Parents Television CouncilThe Parents Television Council (PTC) is a US-based lobby group which aims to "restore television to its roots as an independent and socially responsible entertainment medium". Although ostensibly non-partisan, the group tends to be highly conservative and faith-based. The PTC was founded in 1995 by longtime conservative activist L. Brent Bozell III; its activities extend to evaluation and rating of broadcast TV programs according to a traffic-light system of Red, Amber and Green across four axes: Sex, Violence, Profanity and Overall; and the organisation of an effective lobbying machine. In November of 2000 PTC and its parent organization, Media Research Center were sued by World Wrestling Entertainment. The lawsuit was settled out-of-court for $3.5 million in July of 2002. See Media Research Center for more details regarding the lawsuit. PTC's prominence became evident after analysis of complaints to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) underlined in Congressional hearings into the Janet Jackson Superbowl incident, in which one of Jackson's breasts, covered only by a nipple-shield, was momentarily displayed on network television; FCC chairman Michael Powell stated that the number of indecency complaints to the FCC had risen from 350 in the years 2000 and 2001, to 14,000 in 2002 and 240,000 in 2003. Mediaweek estimates that up to 99.8% of the complaints lodged with the FCC in 2003 were filed by or through the PTC; and discounting Janet Jackson related complaints, 99.9% are made by or through PTC. As a result there is some concern that a single issue activist group is exerting undue influence on the process of media regulation in the US. The counterpart to the PTC in the UK is Mediawatch, an organisation apparently having a membership of some 40,000 people, but which has a much smaller impact than its American cousin. Reference See also External links *Lone Activist Group Submits 99.8% of FCC Complaints - Slashdot story
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