The Parents Television and Media Council has filed for bankruptcy, ending a three-decade run as a media watchdog that fought to rid the airwaves of sex, violence and profanity.
The organization filed for liquidation under Chapter 7 on Oct. 3, listing assets of $92,000 and liabilities of $285,000. In its heyday in the early 2000s, the group brought in as much as $6.6 million in donations a year — that figure had dwindled to $1.6 million by 2023.
Jon Yasuda, the group’s president, responded to an email inquiry with an autoreply: “Thank you for your email. I am no longer employed by the Parents Television and Media Council.”
SFGate first reported the bankruptcy.
Founded by conservative commentator L. Brent Bozell III in 1995, the Parents Television Council was best known for flooding the Federal Communications Commission with indecency complaints. In 2003, it was responsible for 99.8% of them.
At one time, the group claimed 1.4 million members. When Janet Jackson’s nipple was briefly exposed during the Super Bowl halftime show in 2004, members filed more than 65,000 complaints with the FCC, leading to a record $550,000 fine.
The group also lodged thousands of complaints over fleeting expletives, as when Bono used the “f-word” during the 2003 Golden Globes. In 2004, the group targeted the short-lived ABC show “Life As We Know It,” calling it “drenched in sex.”
The PTC took a prim view of promiscuity, drug use and violence on prime-time TV. The group lamented the decline of the broadcast “family hour,” noting that the 8 p.m.-9 p.m. time slot had been taken over by risqué shows like “Melrose Place” and “Friends.” Researchers tallied up vulgarities like “ass,” “bastard,” and “son of a bitch,” as well as instances of premarital and extramarital sex.
In 1998, the organization took out newspaper ads seeking to pressure advertisers to drop support for televised “filth.” Featuring Steve Allen, the former “Tonight Show” host and the group’s “honorary chairman,” the ads warned: “TV Is Leading Children Down a Moral Sewer.”
Over the years, the organization expanded its mandate to cable TV — blasting adult-themed cartoons like “Family Guy” and “American Dad” — and streaming, issuing warnings about “Stranger Things” on Netflix and HBO’s “Euphoria,” which it called “child-themed pornography.” The group regularly criticized TV’s self-imposed content rating system as being too lenient to racy programming.
The group added “media” to its title in 2021, recognizing the proliferation of distribution channels for illicit influence, and later weighed in on TikTok, artificial intelligence and smartphone bans in public schools.
All in all, the PTC found itself in a losing battle. The group recently lamented that Hollywood sex scenes were more explicit than ever and warned parents that this year’s best picture Oscar winner, “Anora,” contains graphic sex and glamorizes prostitution.
“I keep saying to myself, it can’t get worse, but it does,” Bozell said in 2001. “It is just now commonplace to use cuss words in a gratuitous fashion.”
