Parents Television Council Is on the Defensive

The Parents Television Council spent most of the last decade as a conservative superstar in the culture wars. By pressuring the Federal Communications Commission to crack down on racy programming, the council was responsible for record-setting fines against media giants like CBS and the News Corporation. But the organization now finds itself damaged, defanged by court challenges to the FCC's hard-line position, by its own dwindling finances and by internal troubles that resulted in its accusing a former senior employee of extortion.

Meanwhile, the entertainment industry -- once so afraid of the council's wrath that Fox blurred the naked behind of an animated character -- is pushing the boundaries of taste with renewed intensity. Forget cartoon nudity. One of CBS's new fall sitcoms is called "$#*! My Dad Says." A catchy song with a highly vulgar title and chorus by the Warner Music Group singer Cee Lo Green has burned up the Web. Miley Cyrus, the 17-year-old Disney star, writhes on a bed in black underwear in her new music video. The council has tried to focus public indignation on such programming, but the efforts have mostly failed to gain serious traction.