Television Watch

Infobox Non-profit
Non-profit_name = Television Watch
Non-profit_
Non-profit_type =
founded_date = May 2005
founder = Jim Dyke
location = Charleston, South Carolina
origins =
key_people = Jim Dyke
area_served =
product =
focus = Opposition to increased government regulation of television broadcasting
method =
revenue =
endowment =
num_volunteers =
num_employees =
num_members =
subsib =
owner =
Non-profit_slogan = "Don't let Uncle Sam dictate what you watch"
homepage = http://www.televisionwatch.org/
dissolved =
footnotes =

Television Watch is an American non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Charleston, South Carolina. The organization was established in May 2005 in response to the perceived increase in government regulation of television content. [cite press release
title = New Group Opposing Government Control of TV Launched Today; TV Watch to Promote Use of “Parental Controls”
publisher = Television Watch
date = 2005-05-04
url = http://www.televisionwatch.org/NewsPolls/PressReleases/PR013.html
accessdate = 2007-07-03 ] As an alternative to increased government control of the public airwaves, Television Watch promotes parental responsibility as the right way to protect children from inappropriate content on television.cite news|last=Eggerton|first=John|title=Big Three Fight Indecency|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA600016.html|work=Broadcasting & Cable|date=2005-05-09|accessdate=2008-04-19]

Leadership

Its Executive Director is Jim Dyke, an experienced communications and political advisor who served as communications director for the Republican National Convention in 2004. Dyke graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in history. Presently, Dyke resides in Charleston, South Carolina with his wife Dawn and daughter Emily. Dyke's favorite television programs include "Arrested Development", "Grey's Anatomy", and "Desperate Housewives". [ [http://www.televisionwatch.org/MediaCenter/JimDyke.pdf Microsoft Word - Jim Dyke Bio.doc ] ]

Dyke has appeared in numerous news programs on TV and radio, including "The Early Show", "Hannity and Colmes", "Live with Lester Holt", and "Wolf Blitzer Reports". [cite episode|title = [http://televisionwatch.org/NewsPolls/Video/CNN.mov July 5, 2005] |url=http://televisionwatch.org/NewsPolls/Video/CNN.mov |series= Wolf Blitzer Reports|serieslink= Wolf Blitzer Reports |credits= Wolf Blitzer, Mary Snow |network= CNN |airdate= 2005-07-05 |transcripturl=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0507/05/wbr.01.html ]

Organizations supporting TV Watch include the Center for Creative Voices in Media, American Conservative Union, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and the United States Chamber of Commerce. The TV networks CBS, FOX, and NBC also back TV Watch.

Mission

To promote their goal, the website of the organization keeps the public updated with news related to the FCC's regulation of broadcast television, as well as reports supporting such action. In their reports, Television Watch reveals the flawed logic in claims that the FCC should place tougher regulation on the broadcast airwaves, as the majority of American television-viewing households do not have a child at home, and therefore should not be subject to governmental censorship influenced by special-interest groups representing the minority of the television-watching audiences - families with children, which TV Watch has revealed represent only one-third of television-watching households in the United States. [cite press release
title = The Parents Television Council’s Release is Flawed by Faulty Analysis and Biased Methodology
publisher = Television Watch
date = 2007-04-19
url = http://www.televisionwatch.org/NewsPolls/FactSheets/FS001.html
accessdate = 2007-07-03 ] TV Watch research has consistently proven that most parents believe it is of their own responsibility, not of the government, to determine what is appropriate for their family. [cite press release
title = Parents Send Unmistakable Message to Congress: Keep Your Hands Off My Remote!
publisher = Television Watch
date = 2007-06-25
url = http://www.televisionwatch.org/NewsPolls/PressReleases/PR025.html
accessdate = 2007-07-03 ] As a challenge to the PTC's claims that the V-chip is unworkable, TV Watch held a "parental control challenge", a V-chip setting contest to test if the device would block all or the majority of programs deemed inappropriate for children. [cite news|last=Eggerton|first=John|title=V-Chip-Setting Contest Planned|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA626593.html|work=Broadcasting & Cable|date=2005-07-19|accessdate=2008-04-19]

The Parents Television Council, a media watchdog group noted for filing the majority of FCC complaints for controversial programs like the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show that featured the brief exposure of one of Janet Jackson's breasts, is a frequent target of criticism by the group for inaccurate reporting on the media, support of increased government regulation of television, and using "sensationalism" in their reporting to reinforce their views. [cite news
last = McManus
first = Michael
coauthors =
title = Group: Children's TV isn't kid stuff
work = CNN.com
pages =
language =
publisher = CNN
date = 2006-03-02
url = http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/03/02/children.television/index.html
accessdate = 2007-07-27] [cite press release
title = Government Needs To Listen To Parents
publisher = Television Watch
date = 2007-06-26
url = http://www.televisionwatch.org/NewsPolls/PressReleases/PR026.html
accessdate = 2007-07-27 ] [cite web
last = Eggerton
first = John
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = PTC Slams Kids Shows
work = Broadcasting & Cable
date = 2006-03-02
url = http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6312378.html?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-08-24 ] TV Watch has also objected to the PTC's annual list of the "Best and Worst Shows for Primetime Viewing". [cite web| title = Parents Group Warns Against 4 Fox Shows| work = USA Today| publisher = Associated Press| date = 2005-10-19 | url = http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2005-10-19-fox-shows_x.htm | accessdate = 2007-08-13 ] In June 2007, the organization released an in-depth survey that concluded that most parents take their own responsibility for their children's TV viewing, thus challenging the PTC's views that most parents want increased government regulation of TV. [cite paper
author =
title = TV Watch Survey of Parents Topline
version =
publisher = Television Watch
date = 2007-06-25
url = http://www.televisionwatch.org/JunePollResults.pdf
format =
accessdate = 2007-07-27]

In addition, its home page contains a photograph of parents watching a certain show inappropriate for their children, with the children looking away from the television screen, which shows characters from the program as well as the cariacture of Uncle Sam covering the screen. The screen changes when the user "refreshes" the display on the Web browser. Examples of characters used on the TV Watch homepage to illustrate government censorship of television have included Jack McCoy, Ed Green, and Nina Cassidy of "Law & Order" [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20070322194254/http://www.televisionwatch.org/ tv • watch ] ] , Homer Simpson and the Simpson family of "The Simpsons", Jack Bauer and Bill Buchanan of "24", and "American Idol" winner Taylor Hicks.

Reception

Many parents and figures in the broadcast industry have expressed their support for TV Watch and its cause. [ [http://televisionwatch.org/NewsPolls/LatestNews.html tv • watch ] ] Jeff Jarvis, former critic for "TV Guide" and creator of "Entertainment Weekly", has asserted that although "Organizations like the Parents Television Council and the American Family Association come along and act like they're speaking for all parents,", he, "as an American parent, they're not."cite web
last = McFarland
first = Melanie
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Who gets to pick what we watch? Tune in
work = Seattle Post-Intelligencer
date = 2005-05-06
url =http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/223063_tv06.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-07-03 ]

The organization, however, has been criticized by Parents Television Council founder L. Brent Bozell III, who called TV Watch "a collection of random citizen and public policy groups that have simply been hired and paid for by the networks to do their dirty work", going in defense of the PTC. When Bozell in September 2006 announced that he would resign from his position as PTC president, Jim Dyke of TV Watch stated that he believed "that the members of PTC and TV Watch do share some important common ground." [cite news|last=Eggerton|first=John|title=TV Watch Extends Olive Branch To PTC|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6370277.html?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP&q=%22Brent+Bozell%22|work=Broadcasting & Cable|date=2006-09-08|accessdate=2008-04-19]

ee also

*Censorship in the United States
*Parents Television Council
*Parents Television Council controversies

References

External links

* [http://www.televisionwatch.org Official site]