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Turning Up The Heat On The Some of you may have received an e-mail
similar to this one below from a staffperson of Brainstorms.com, claiming
that they do not participate in the Parents Television Council Marketplace
campaign. There is more than just Brainstorms feeling the heat of our campaigns. Entering the new century means that it is time to turn up heat on the sponsors of the PTC the way the PTC turned it up on the WWF. To date Brainstorms has not responded to
either Bob Magee or myself as I also told them how I felt about their
sponsorship. Take a moment to write a couple of these sponsors a day and
let them know how you feel! The PTC Venture Outside Of "Broadcast" Television To Attack The WWFPosted on the Parents Television Council Website: Total sites joined - 204 Join The WFAC Newsletter Blank E-mail See for yourself : Contact Your Favorite Federation Media Responses Support The Licensees An age is considered dark, not because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see it. - James A. Michener Going To A Televised Event? Are you going to a WWF/WCW/ECW televised event or pay-per-view? This is a great opportunity to show your support for this cause and site to millions of wrestling fans around the country and around the world. All you need to do is carry a sign showing your support. Have the WFAC name and url on the sign and help us get the message out. Let us know in advance by e-mailing us and we'll be looking! PILEDRIVER PRESS AND THE WFAC JOIN TOGETHER TO GIVE YOU A VOICE THAT WILL BE SENT TO THE SPONSORSCorey Hickman, editor of Piledriver Press, has offered to help out with this cause 200% and has set up a place for you to e-mail to so your voice can be heard by the sponsors. Click here to read the letter we received from Cory Hickman. We here at WFAC want to thank Corey for helping us out with this cause. Support The WFACThis is not something that can be done by ourselves. This is going to take a concerted effort on everyone's part to have our voices be heard. We are just starting to make the first rung of a very long ladder. In order to be able to move to the second rung we need numbers. Large numbers of wrestling fans that support this cause because without large numbers to combat the kind of numbers that the PTC has we will be viewed as nothing more than a small group of people opposing something. But with a large amount of people we can unite as one in one overwhelming voice that cannot be denied. As of 12/26/99 we have 204 sites showing support for our cause but that is 204 sites out of a 3-4 thousand wrestling sites on the Internet. As you can see we have a long way to go. Contact your favorite webmasters and ask them to join this cause. This isn't about wrestling afvorites or wrestling politics, this is about our right to view our favorite wrestling shows without the intervention of narrow minded people trying to tell us what to do and what we can or cannot watch. Many can do what one cannot and that is why I turn to you, the Internet wrestling fans, to help get the word out to "all" of the Internet wrestling websites. I thank you for your time and efforts in this. Update Banner LinkFor those of you who did not http://pwbts.com/censor.html Brent Bozell Trashes WWF Once AgainL.Brent Bozell has seen fit this past week to not once, but twice trash the World Wrestling federation in print. To read these please click here to read his statement or here to read his column.
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Brett Schwan's Wrestling Clothesline Website and Hotline Joins The FightBrett Schwan, wrestling aficionado, has brought his Wrestling Clothesline website and hotline in order to help continue this fight against the PTC and it's practices. If you are a hotline fanatic like so many are you can get up to the minute news on his N.Y. Hotline at 212 420-5075. Thanks for joining the cause Brett. Freedom TV Sets Up Online PetitionFreedom TV has developed a petition that The Sponsors of the PTCWe have talked about it for weeks and now finally here is the list of the people who help sponsor the PTC and their efforts to censor television according to their beliefs. What is good for one is good for another and I say that we let their sponsors know that we will not support their products or services as long as they are a contributing part of the PTC. This is NOT something to be rude and crude about people. We are here to say that we don't support the practices of the people that they contribute to and that we will not support the sponsors or their products as long as they are a contributing partner. Let these companies know how you feel about their involvement with the PTC in an intelligent adult manner. That is THE ONLY way to get your point across. .The PTC Responds To The WFAC Below is the reponse that the WFAC site has received from the PTC in which they respond to some of the concerns that have been e-mailed to them. This exchange has been made due to the fact that even though we disagree on what they are doing, I have shown them respect and have been civil to them in my letters. Just because we disagree does not mean that we cannot correspond in an adult manner. To those of you who have also felt this way and wrote to the PTC in an intelligent manner I thank you. To those of who have not all I can say is that you have not helped our cause one bit. In fact you have given the impression that wrestling fans have no class and have actually hurt the things that we here have tried to do. At the bottom of this letter there is an e-mail address set up expressly for us. This will be monitored by the PTC and all letters will be read. If you feel the need to say stupid or just attack the PTC through this e-mail address please refrain from doing so. We have worked long and hard here at the WFAC to have some childish letters ruin the open dialogue between our respective factions. ==================== The PTC’s primary mission is to discourage the increasingly graphic sexual themes and dialogue, depictions of gratuitous violence, and profane or obscene language that appear on broadcast television programs, particularly during prime time, and especially during the "Family Hour," (the earliest hour of network television each evening). In order to clarify our position and our activities, we have provided a response to the points made by WWF fans. The PTC is attempting to ban the WWF, or make viewing decisions for adults: It is not the position of the PTC to prevent those adults who wish to view such programming from doing so, nor to ban or destroy the WWF. Our concern relates to the time and the venue that such programming is broadcast. A show permeated with continuous acts of savage assault with deadly weapons, explicit sexual scenes and themes, and punctuated with obscene or profane language, whether the characters are scripted or not, may be suitable for pay-per-view, but it does not have a place on prime time broadcast television, particularly during the family hour. No other wrestling show, including other WWF shows, airs on broadcast television, which is supposed to maintain higher standards than other media. The First Amendment demands that any type of programming be available at all times via all media to anyone (or any adult) who wishes to view it. The Parents Television Council’s views or actions amount to censorship and are a violation of fans’ rights. WWF Smackdown! airs on broadcast television during the "family hour," and uses the public airwaves. Because it is available free over the air, it is presumed that children of any age can access the programming. According to the Federal Communications Act of 1934 which still sets the guidelines for the use of this public property, programming must be in the "public interest," i.e. serve a common publicly recognized good. It has never been supposed by the Supreme Court that any material a broadcaster wished to air is an absolute right unaccompanied by responsibilities to the public interest. The First Amendment begins: Congress shall make no law…. The Parents Television Council is not a federal entity or a legislative body. It has neither the power nor desire for the government to ban legal programming. Instead, the PTC operates by providing members and advertisers with information about the content of programs. Where prime time programming contains significant amounts of material unsuitable for children in a timeslot and venue where children presumable have access to that material, the PTC asks advertisers to review their sponsorship of the program. The PTC is an organization of over 400,000 private citizens who have organized to exercise our right to speak out about what we view as a significant problem. We wish to raise serious issues about the potential abuse of broadcasting privileges. We address these problems through providing information and education to viewers, sponsors and networks, not through law or force. By the same token, advertisers also have the right to place their ads as they see fit. There are other televised shows that are as bad or worse than the WWF. Most of the examples brought to our attention are programs that air during the day on weekdays, on cable or in late night timeslots. This is not an argument against our criticism of the WWF, but an acknowledgement that there are indeed very few places parents can turn to for family viewing. It is a job for parents to oversee their children’s television viewing choices, not the business of the Parents Television Council. This assertion supposes that the entertainment has no responsibility for what they produce. It is a refrain often heard from those in the entertainment industry who wish to evade any responsibility for their product by placing the entire burden on parents. While the PTC agrees that parents are ultimately responsible for the upbringing of their children, parental responsibility is the beginning, not the end of the story. The next question is to what extent do those who use public resources like the airwaves have a responsibility as well. The default setting for broadcast television used to be family oriented, while those desiring edgier, more explicit fare were free to seek it out. Today’s prime time television programming has become almost uniformly unsuitable for families, and often directly hostile to their values, making it very difficult to shield their children and seek out alternative entertainment. The WWF is a harmless fantasy action adventure, and has no influence on behavior or attitudes. There are at least two instances this year where one child killed another, apparently while imitating wrestling seen on TV. Most of what appears on television is make-believe, but nevertheless has profound effects, as hundreds of studies of the influence of television have shown. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association have both cited its undeniable influence, especially on children. Many of the letters from young WWF fans complaining about the PTC’s criticisms amply illustrate this very point. Their letters are laced with WWF jargon, phrases and exemplify the attitudes of their Smackdown! heroes. Further, advertisers pour billions of dollars annually into commercials, because of the demonstrable power of 30-second ad spots to influence consumer decisions. Realizing the power of television to shape attitudes, the NAACP and other minority groups often express concern about the portrayal of the imaginary characters on television. Most people do not consider these efforts by minority groups to alter programming censorship, but recognize it as a legitimate exercise of their right to free speech. The PTC is doing virtually the same thing by raising our concerns about programming. If you don’t like it, change the channel. Since television is such a powerful influence on society, this is an entirely inadequate response to the dramatic rise in the amount of graphic sex, obscene and profane language, and gratuitous violence permeating our society’s most pervasive medium. WWF Smackdown! was helping rewrite the standards for broadcast television by pushing the envelope. Without a response, PTC members could only expect to see the envelope continue to be pushed even further. Silence is consent, and to merely change the channel is essentially to accept what is on that channel and admit powerlessness to change what is on one’s own television. To be forced to change the channel is to accept the loss of more stations to unhealthy content and to expect more similar material on the next channel one turns to. The e-mial box to voice your concerns and opinions to the PTC is as follows. ptcmembers@parentstv.org Wrestling Sites That Promote Hate MailIt has been brought to my attention that there are websites on the Internet that are promotion writing hateful e-mail and spamming the e-mail boxes of the PTC. This IS NOT the way to do things. If you see a site that is promoting these or other kind of hateful actions please write to the webmasters and tell them that these kind of actions actually hurt what we are trying to do. We here at WFAC believe that we should all speak our minds but also that it should be done in an adult and intelligent manner. |
Virginia Wrestling Federation, Millenium Pro Wrestling and Attitude Inc Join WFACVirginia Wrestling Federation, Millennium Pro Wrestling and Attitude Inc has joined in the fight against censorship and against the PTC. The list of pro wrestling organizations that support our cause keep growing. Soon we will have the support of every major independent in the country. That combined with all of the webmasters and wrestling fans will be one loud voice against the PTC which is exactly what we want. Pro Wrestling Daily Joins The FightShannon Rose's Pro Wrestling Daily Newsboard has joined in the fight against the Parent's Television Council. Shannon has also signed on his other site IPW-Hardcore to also support our cause here. Pro Wrestling Daily is the home of Chris Candido and Tammy Sytch's column. Please go to both sites and say thanks to Shannon for joining the fight against censorship. Wrestle Network Signs On With WFACTyler Rebalkin's Wrestle Network has signed on with the rest of us to try to corral the PTC's outlandish movement against professional wrestling. Stop by his site to not only check it out but to say thanks! Corey Hickman's Radio Interview is now onlineCorey Hickman's radio interview is now up in Real Audio format on Piledriverpress.com.....Some interesting things are brought up about Wrestling Fans Against Censorship and the campaign against the PTC. Also do not forget to go to Corey's site and get your name on the forms that are being sent out to the sponsors very soon. Ohio Valley Wrestling with Jim Cornette's blessing signs on with WFAC.I have to just sit back on this one. While it is true that I do know Jim, I have always understood that he is one busy person when it comes to wrestling. For Jim to take a even a moment of his time to acknowledge what we are doing here means a lot, not only to me but to everyone who is united in this fight. Please take a moment to go to the Ohio Valley Wrestling website and see the good things that are happening there. Thanks again Jim, I mean that. Bob Magee On Rasslin RadioThe following is a letter that I received from Bob Magee,
PWBTS 2000 columnist and one of the backbones behind the WFAC. Power Pro Wrestling Joins WFACPower Pro Wrestling, based in Memphis, Tennessee, is a fully equipped, full service professional wrestling promotion/training center with a commitment to providing quality television and live events to wrestling fans, training and experience to pro wrestlers, and more value to the dollar for sponsors, school organizations and sponsors affiliated with the organization. We are proud to have such an organization within our ranks. To get to the PPW site click here. IndyWrestling.com becomes WFAC affiliateIf you are an indy wrestling fan then there is oone site that you should have in your bookmarks and that is IndyWrestling.com This site is a must see for anyone who follows the independent wrestling scene. Be sure to show your appreciation for IndyWrestling.com joining the cause by checking out their site. Freedom TV Joins The FightIt is nice when other people also take up the fight and that is exactly what Freedom TV has done. Visit their site to add yourself to another website dedicated to this cause. Gerweck's Wrestling News Signs OnSteve Gerweck, longtime associate of the PWBTS 2000 site and someone who I respect very much, has joined in the fight against any form of censorship in pro wrestling broadcasts. If you want to go to one of the premier wrestling news sites on the Internet click here. Thanks for joining the cause Steve, we all appreciate your support. NWA-New York Joins WFACNWA-New York is the National Wrestling Alliance affiliate in the New York metropolitan area, running shows throughout the boroughs of New York. It will be making its debut on Cable Access channels in Brooklyn and Queens in the month of January, in Manhattan and Bronx in February of 2000, and then in March of 2000, Long Island NWA-New York features such stars as rookie cruiserweight sensation Low-Ki, Chris Michaels, Ace Darling, Biggie Biggs, and MAGIC, with the Soul Brothers and Flesh Eaters as top tag teams. Please take a moment to visit their website and drop them a line or two thanking them for their support. Combat Zone Wrestling Joins With WFAC Against CensorshipCombat Zone Wrestling has joined with us in the fight against censorship. This promotion is known for their ultra hardcore action and is becoming the talk of the indie circuit in the Philadelphia/S.Jersey area. Check them out by clicking the link above. We want to thank everyone at CZW for joining in our fight. Unified Championship Wrestling Enters Our CauseLocated in Rhode Island, the UCW does a lot of charity work and fundraising for children and families, youth athletics and community centers. A staunch supporter against censorship, we here at WFAC are proud to have them on our side. STRICTLY ECW JOINS THE FIGHTIf you ever wanted to know what was going on in ECW...you went to Strictly ECW...the authority on what was happening in the world of "Extreme". Now in an unprecendented move, Strictly ECW has joined with the WFAC in it's fight against censorship in any form against the sport (and yes I still call it a sport) of pro wrestling. The people at Strictly ECW are no strangers to censorship as they mounted a campaign (and won) to have MSG return ECW to it's channel after dropping them. We here at the WFAC are proud and honored to have such a website backing the cause. Go to http://strictlyecw.com/ and view what is in my estimation the best and most informed ECW website on the Internet today.
The Queen Of Extreme's Website Joins The CauseFrancine Fournier, better known as "The Queen Of Extreme" in Extreme Championship Wrestling is now a member of the Wrestling Fans Against Censorship cause through her website. CJ Marsicano, webmaster of her official site, has signed on as an official sponsor of our right to be able to view whatever wrestling program that we choose, without intervention from groups like the PTC. Please show your support to this excellent site by clicking on the picture above. Yankee Pro Wrestling Joins WFACYankee Pro Wrestling, based out of New Bedford, MA and one that travels throughout New England has joined in the fight against the PTC. This organization has been in existence for over 2 decades bringing the wrestling fans in New England many years of wrestling excitement. We are pleased that they have joined in the cause against the PTC. To visit the YPW website click here. NWA Manager Donnie B. Joins The CauseNWA manager Donnie B. has let us know that he is against the PTC's attacks on pro wrestling by joining the fight against such practices. If you happen to have ever had the chance to see Donnie in the NWA you know that Donnie believes in the business and on a personal note he is one great person. You can show your thanks by checking out Donnie's site by clicking here. Jim Varsallone/Miami Herald picks up Wrestling Fans Against Censorship Story!The WFAC and all of it associates want to take a minute to thank Jim Varsallone of the Miami Herald for helping out by picking up the story of our fight against the PTC. You can read the full column by clicking here. At that time you can also read his other columns and this gives you a chance to bookmark one of the best wrestling reporters in real media today. "Panama" Jack Capri Joins the Fight for Censor Free Wrestling"Panama" Jack Capri, one of the most outspoken independent wrestlers in the business today, has officially joined the cause against the PTC. This mans does not know the meaning of anything but the word "shoot" and you can see this for yourself by going to his site at http://www.prowrestling.org
Mid South Joins With The WFACMid-South Wrestling, based out of Tenneesee, is the first wrestling promotion to join with us in our fight against the censorship practices and strong arm tactics of the Parents Television Council. Please support this promotion by clicking on the logo above and visiting their website. From all of us here at the WFAC, we thank Mid-South Wrestling for joining this worthwhile cause. Bob Ryder Acknowledges the PTC and It's Practices1wrestling.com/ecwwrestling.com owner and WCW employee Bob Ryder has finally spoken out against the PTC in his daily "Notes From Bob" column. In his column while he still believes that the WWF "brought this on themselves" he is starting to realize that this could also happen in WCW or ECW if these people are given a half a chance. Bob brings up some very good points in his column that we have been trying to express since the inception of this site. To read his column in full please click here. We here at the WFAC thank Bob for acknowleding this problem. A Wrestling Site Against The WFAC?A very interesting result of doing something like this is that some people will do anything to shoot down a good cause. Yesterday a certain self serving online "daily" wrestling newsletter plugged a website that had some unflattering remarks about myself and the WFAC site. While I find them humorous considering who actually plugged this site let me clear up the concerns of these so-called self proclaimed "journailists". This site is hosted off of my PWBTS 2000 site. With the amount of fans that support this that means there is more traffic to this site. More traffic means more data transfer. More data transfer (if I go over the limit set by my webhost) means more money to host the site. I put the Ad-Cast banner across the bottom of this site to help offset that added cost. I do not make $35,000.00 a month off of my wrestling.com website. I do not bleed my readers for money by begging them to "click on banners". Ad-Cast does not harm anyone nor does it interfere with anyone visiting the site. It gives me the added revenue to like I said, offset the added cost of this. I am sorry to bother everyone with this but I have received a few e-mails about this so I thought I would address it out in the open as I always address everything. Unlike other webmasters, we here at PWBTS and WFAC have nothing to hide from our readers. Thank you for your time. My best advice to everyone is, "Consider the source"! PTC Gloats At Sponsorship ExodusThe PTC is currently reveling in the fact that the WWF is losing so many sponsors and also in the fact that they are receiving mainstream media attentiion, which in my opinion is why they did it in the first place. Click here to read their latest comments. Intellectual and cultural freedom is the most important single precondition for the breakdown of the kinds of tyrannical and totalitarian systems that periodically threaten us.
-James Billington
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