How many indecency complaints does the FCC actually receive? It's a hot-button topic—television broadcasters have already begun to censor themselves out of uncertainty about what is considered indecent and obscene. Because of the intense media coverage of the issue, readers might get the impression that indecency complaints are legion, that millions of Americans are up in arms about what's on television.

That's not the case. Ars has compiled a surprising set of statistics on the practice, drawn from the FCC's own quarterly reports. They show a generally low level of complaints punctuated by massive—but occasional—spikes, most of which are fueled by "family-friendly" activist groups like the Parents Television Council ("Because our children are watching").

Let's run the numbers. The graph below shows the total number of indecency complaints received by the FCC in the second quarter of each year for the last five years. It's a good way to get a feel for how much fluctuation there is in the level of complaints. In April, May, and June of 2002, for instance, only 141 people in the entire country filed an FCC complaint. In the same three months of 2003, 351 people objected. Then, in 2004, something remarkable happened: 272,818 people filed complaints in a single quarter. Had television suddenly started peddling prime-time pornography?

Of course not. What had happened was a certain "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl. The brief flash of Janet Jackson's pasty-covered breast outraged conservatives across the country. More importantly, it outraged the Parents Television Council (whose children, remember, are watching), which mounted one of its many campaigns to flood the FCC with complaints. By all accounts, it was successful; an FCC estimate concluded that more than 99 percent of the complaints received came from the PTC.

In fact, their performance in Q1 of 2004 was even more impressive, as 693,080 complaints flooded the FCC. In April, the first month of the second quarter, more than 270,000 complaints were filed. And then, like sunshine after shower, peace returned. By May, only 1,696 indecency complaints were filed, and in June, that number fell to 835. TV, apparently, had gotten 323 times "cleaner" in only two months.

What the graph shows is that the indecency complaints made so much of in the media do not represent a huge swath of dissatisfaction with television. They represent occasional and reflexive spasms of outrage, many triggered or spurred on by activist groups.

Is "family-friendly" really family-friendly?

A little trashing of the PTC is usual in these types of analyses. The outrage they inspire is "manufactured," it is sometimes said, the complaints aren't "real." The PTC web site allows (and encourages) people to complain to the FCC, sometimes including video clips of the offending TV segments so that viewers who may not have seen the show can work up a righteous head of steam.

But this is the way that activist groups operate. They monitor situations that people across the country don't have time to look into on their own, and they notify those people when something of interest happens, then help them to take action. It's true of Amnesty International, the EFF, and the PTC. As long as the complaints represent the legitimate views of actual Americans, it's fine.

The real problem with the PTC complaints is that the organization uses "indecency criteria" so simplistic that they makes Blue's Clues look like a college philosophy course. They rate shows based on "sex," "language," "violence," and "overall." Curse words—bad for children! Shows stuffed with nothing but consumerism, tawdry celebrity, and mockery of those who can't hold a tune—good for children!

Consider Everybody Loves Raymond, which received "green lights" in all four PTC categories. In promoting the show as a family-friendly offering, the PTC notes that "Raymond promotes the idea of long-lasting marriage, and Debra feels fulfilled in her role as a stay-at-home mom. Language on this series used to be harsh, but since the first of 2004 [sic], has dropped to a record low number of just 8 uses of mild 'hell,' 'crap,' and 'damn' in 6 episodes. Sexual references have been non-existent since January 2004."

The focus is on specifics: exact words, number of uses, etc. While the PTC does point to the fact that the couple remain married and that Debra "feels fulfilled," it's arguable whether the show portrays family in such a way that anyone would want to have one. The main characters show little affection for one another, the jokes routinely come at the expense of spouses, and the whole milieu feels joyless and barren. Regardless of how "mild" the show's use of "hell," "crap," and "damn" may be, it's a show that makes me viscerally uncomfortable to watch, and it's not the kind of thing I want my kids to see.

Your mileage may vary, of course, but that's exactly the point. Rather than give parents the tools they need to make a holistic judgment about particular programs, groups like the PTC adopt a set of legalistic criteria that may end up approving shows which are not, in reality, friendly to families at all. While Everybody Loves Raymond, Dancing with the Stars, and American Idol might be "safe," they are hardly the sort of high-quality material that young minds should be fed.