Mediaweek reported yesterday on the dramatic rise in complaints to the FCC this year compared to last. According to Chairman of the FCC, Michael Powell, the number of complaints has increased from 14,000 in 2002 to more than 240,000 in 2003. Powell said during his appearance in front of congress that, �a dramatic rise in public concern and outrage about what is being broadcast into their homes.� What Powell didn’t mention is that roughly 99.8% of all of the complaints come from the Parents Television Council. The Mediaweek article goes on to discuss the insane level of censorship the FCC is now imposing on America based on form letters generated from the PTO. An excellent example of this is the case against Fox’s Married by America show. The FCC acknowledges 34 complaints where all but 4 were identical and only 1 had professed to of watched the show. When these numbers are matched against the estimated 5,100,000 viewers this hardly seems a case of “community standards being violated”. Until the FCC makes the rules clear, groups like the PTO are apparently going to be able to dictate what we can see on television and hear on the radio. Anyway, the article is an excellent read and does a better job of showing how ridiculous this all is than I ever could.