2005 Annual Report - Parents Television Council
2005 Annual Report - Parents Television Council
2005 Annual Report - Parents Television Council
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The legendary comedian Steve Allen<br />
joined the PTC’s efforts as<br />
Honorary Chairman.<br />
The PTC began 1997 with a roar,<br />
releasing its first look at the television<br />
ratings system. The Special <strong>Report</strong> A<br />
TV Ratings <strong>Report</strong> Card: F for<br />
Failure, exposed the contradictions<br />
and inconsistencies of the ratings<br />
system and discredited the age-based<br />
system Hollywood was then using.<br />
The Special <strong>Report</strong> was key in forcing<br />
the entertainment industry to<br />
undertake what the PTC had initially<br />
called for – a revision of the ratings<br />
system. The PTC’s name spread to<br />
millions of Americans when these<br />
findings were featured on ABC’s<br />
World News Tonight and CNN.<br />
Now with the support of more<br />
than 101 members of Congress the PTC<br />
again sponsored an ad in Daily Variety<br />
“It is generally agreed –<br />
on the political right and<br />
left – that our whole<br />
culture and society is<br />
sliding down a moral<br />
sewer, and that television<br />
is among the causative<br />
factors, because it is<br />
constantly insinuating<br />
moral and ethical lessons<br />
that undermine what most<br />
parents are trying to teach<br />
their children at home. I<br />
agreed to serve as<br />
Chairman of the <strong>Parents</strong><br />
<strong>Television</strong> <strong>Council</strong><br />
because I believe their<br />
plan to clean up television<br />
programming will work.”<br />
STEVE ALLEN,<br />
ACTOR, SINGER, AUTHOR,<br />
SONGWRITER, COMEDIAN<br />
asking, “Is It Too Much to Ask<br />
Hollywood to Voluntarily Set Aside<br />
ONE HOUR for Families?”<br />
Americans around the country<br />
recognized the PTC’s effectiveness<br />
and began subscribing to the newly<br />
created weekly PTC Entertainment<br />
CyberAlerts.<br />
In 1998 legendary comedian<br />
Steve Allen joined the PTC’s efforts<br />
as Honorary Chairman. His presence<br />
literally put the PTC on the map with<br />
a landmark advertising campaign<br />
that, in its first year alone, reached<br />
over 20 million homes and resulted<br />
in 120,000 new PTC members.<br />
The campaign, which spanned two<br />
years and was made possible through<br />
an anonymous $100,000 donation, was<br />
arguably the largest in the history of<br />
non-profit organizations.<br />
To meet the needs of its growing<br />
constituency, the PTC created new<br />
products and services to help families<br />
in the fight against Hollywood’s<br />
offensive programming. The PTC<br />
website debuted (www.<strong>Parents</strong>TV.org),<br />
making PTC research and products,<br />
including PTC President Brent<br />
Bozell’s syndicated entertainment<br />
columns, available at the click of a<br />
mouse.<br />
Among the most significant<br />
efforts that year was the campaign<br />
against radio shock jock Howard<br />
Stern’s fledgling broadcast television<br />
show.<br />
The day the program went on the<br />
air the PTC launched a massive<br />
campaign to hold advertisers accountable<br />
for their sponsorship of the<br />
crude, filth-filled program.<br />
Within six months more than 20<br />
stations had either dropped the<br />
program or refused to renew its<br />
contract, other stations pushed the<br />
broadcast back to 12:00 a.m. or later,<br />
and advertisers pulled their support.<br />
MEMBERSHIP: 120,000<br />
1998 ANNUAL BUDGET: $1.5 MILLION<br />
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