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From 1995 to 2007, [[Brent Bozell]] was the president of the PTC. Bozell branched off the PTC from the [[Media Research Center]] after he felt that decency on prime-time TV was decreasing.<ref>James Poniewozik, [http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1039672,00.html The Decency Police]. ''Time'': March 20, 2005.</reF> Tim Winter, a former television network executive who is a registered Democrat, succeeded Bozell in January 2007.<ref>Michael Learmonth, [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117961334.html Parents Television Council sees new era]. ''Variety'': March 17, 2007.</ref>
From 1995 to 2007, [[Brent Bozell]] was the president of the PTC. Bozell branched off the PTC from the [[Media Research Center]] after he felt that decency on prime-time TV was decreasing.<ref>James Poniewozik, [http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1039672,00.html The Decency Police]. ''Time'': March 20, 2005.</reF> Tim Winter, a former television network executive who is a registered Democrat, succeeded Bozell in January 2007.<ref>Michael Learmonth, [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117961334.html Parents Television Council sees new era]. ''Variety'': March 17, 2007.</ref>
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In 1999, the PTC launched a smear campaign against the professional wrestling organization World Wrestling Federation now World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE for short), complaining that their programming contained levels of sexuality and violence unbecoming prime time programming, and by extension the WWF itself, was directly responsible for the deaths of four children. Bozell and various PTC members began meeting with representatives of the advertising departments of various companies that advertised on ''SmackDown!'', intentionally misleading that they the companies advertised on a program that had "caused deaths''. At one point, the PTC fabricated the story that between 30 and 40 of the WWF's advertisers had pulled their commercials from WWF programming, in an attempt to defame WWE. On November 9, 2000, the WWF filed a lawsuit against the PTC, claiming that the PTC's statements were false and constituted defamation. In addition, WWF filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the PTC when it was discovered that the group had been using clips from WWF programs in promotional videos being mailed to corporations as a means of promoting the PTC. The PTC did not initially issue a public response, instead filing that the suit be dismissed;<ref name="judgereject"/> the request was denied, partially in response to a judge's finding that the companies the PTC claimed they had influenced to pull advertising from WWF programs had in fact never even advertised with the company.<ref name="Farhi1"/> Rather than go to trial, the PTC settled out of court. As part of the settlement agreement, the PTC paid the WWF/E $3.5 million [[United States Dollars|USD]] and issued a public apology, acknowledging that they had lied about WWF/E being responsible for four children's deaths. In addition, founder Brent Bozell wrote a personal letter of retraction for the attempted defamation to both the public and WWF/E owner Vince McMahon, which under the terms of the agreement were published on the PTC website for six months. stating "By this retraction, I want to be clear that WWE was correct in pointing out that various statements made by the Media Research Center, PTC and me were inaccurate concerning the identity and number of WWE Smackdown! advertisers who withdrew support from the program. Many of the companies we stated had 'withdrawn' or pulled their support had never, in fact, advertised on Smackdown! nor had any plan to advertise on Smackdown! Again, we regret this error and retract any such misleading statements."
=== Mission Statement ===
=== Mission Statement ===
According to its website, the PTC's primary mission is to "promote and restore responsibility and decency to the entertainment industry in answer to America's demand for positive, family-oriented television programming".<ref>[http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/aboutus/main.asp About the PTC]</reF>
According to its website, the PTC's primary mission is to "promote and restore responsibility and decency to the entertainment industry in answer to America's demand for positive, family-oriented television programming".<ref>[http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/aboutus/main.asp About the PTC]</reF>