DONALD WILDMON. Born in Dumas, Mississippi, U.S.A., 18 January 1938. Attended Mississippi State University, graduated from Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi, 1960; Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, Master of Divinity. Married: Lynda Lou Bennett, 1961; two daughters and two sons. Served in U.S. Army, 1961-63. Ordained as minister, 1964; quit pastorate to protest pornography and violence in media, 1977; founded National Federation for Decency, 1977 (changed name to American Family Association, 1987); founded Coalition for Better Television, 1981 (disbanded, 1982); organized Christian Leaders for Responsible Television, 1982; widened scope of protests by submitting lists of sellers of pornographic magazines and books to Attorney General Edwin Meese's commission on pornography, 1986; convinced Federal Communications Commission to issue warning to radio personality Howard Stern, 1987; protested release of film The Last Temptation of Christ, 1988; protested video for and advertising using Madonna song "Like a Prayer," 1989; protested National Endowment for the Arts policies, since 1989.

PUBLICATIONS (selection)

Thoughts Worth Thinking. Tupelo, Mississippi: Five Star, 1968.

Practical Help for Daily Living. Tupelo, Mississippi: Five Star, 1972.

Stand Up to Life. Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1975.

The Home Invaders. Wheaton, Illinois: Victor Books, 1985.

As social mores have evolved in the United States in recent years, increasing concern over the role of the media, particularly that of television, has come from outspoken "media reformers" such as Donald Wildmon. Wildmon is regarded by some as a self-appointed censor. To others, he is a minister whose congregation crosses the nation and is comprised of followers upset with the kinds of material seen on television. His ministry comes not so much from preaching, but from the publication of the American Family Association Journal, which boasts a readership of nearly two million and income of over $10 million. The central theme of the publication and Wildmon's work is the advocation of his principle tactic for effecting change in television content through boycotting the advertisers of programs which present language and themes that he believes to be anti-Christian.

Wildmon, a soft-spoken fundamentalist Methodist minister from Tupelo, Mississippi, graduated from Emory University's Divinity School. He has spoken often of the roots for his current cause: In the mid-1970s, when his family of young children were gathered around the TV set, he found nothing but sex and violence, adultery and swearing. He vowed to his family that he would do something about it.

At the time, he was the pastor of a Methodist church in Southhaven, Mississippi. He asked his congregation to go without television for one week and found such a striking reaction to the content of programming and to this action taken against the medium that he soon formed the National Federation of Decency, in Tupelo. From that time he never re-entered the regular ministry.

Early on, Wildmon discovered that preaching to the network chiefs, advertisers and programmers was not an easy task. By 1980 he joined with Rev. Jerry Falwell, then leader of the Moral Majority, to form the Coalition for Better Television (CBTV). In was within such an organization that members began to observe and record, with a form of "content analysis," the numbers of sexual references, or episodes ridiculing Christian characters, and other aspects of TV deemed offensive. Armed with figures that seemed to him to demonstrate the erosion of Christian principles in television programs, Wildmon visited corporate heads. On one occasion, he convinced the chairman of Proctor and Gamble to withdraw advertising from approximately 50 TV shows.

Disputes between Wildmon and Falwell broke up CBTV and Wildmon started another group, Christian Leaders for Responsible Television (CLEAR-TV). His concern spread from television to movies and the distribution of adult magazines. He targeted movie studios such as MCA-Universal, distributor of The Last Temptation of Christ, with its "blasphemous depiction" of biblical accounts. He organized campaigns against retail chains--7-Eleven, and K Mart, parent company of Waldenbooks--where adult magazines were sold. And he protested against hotel chains such as Holiday Inns for carrying adult movies on in-house cable systems.

Wildmon's boycotting strategies have been both direct, going to the heads of companies requesting avoidance of anti-Christian materials, and indirect, asking media users to avoid buying those products advertised on questionable programs. In some cases, he seems to have been successful. Pepsico was persuaded to cancel commercials in which Madonna's uses of religious imagery appear. Mazda Motor of America withdrew advertising from NBC's Saturday Night Live because of its "indecent vulgar and offensive" nature. And when Burger King was found advertising on TV shows containing "sex, violence, profanity and anti-Christian bigotry," it was induced to run a newspaper ad, an "Open Letter to the American People," declaring its support of "traditional American family values on TV." Some of Wildmon's critics question whether such persuasion by Wildmon is a form of censorship. Others, including Wildmon, insist that such boycotting and public pressure is "...as American as the Boston tea party."

Past issues of Wildmon's AFA Journal have carried names of members of Congress, together with phone and fax numbers, suggesting active consumer participation in the law-making process. A typical issue of the Journal includes "TV Reviews" focused on demonstrating the presence of themes not in keeping with Wildmon's perspectives of traditional values, but there is also work highlighting "The Good Stuff". The Journal also regularly presents a list of "troublesome" TV programs and identifies the advertisers supporting the shows. And this is followed by a column listing the "Action Index" or the even more emphatic "Boycott Box," listing names of corporations, the chief executive officers, addresses, and phone numbers. Articles cover a number of topics, such as NEA's funding of "anti-Christian" art. Advertisements offer items such as a video, MTV Examined, described as a "comprehensive--and sometimes shocking--look at the destructive effects of MTV and how the programming often crosses the line from entertainment to promotion of illicit sex, violence, drug abuse, immorality, profanity and liberal politics."

More liberal forms of media have been outspoken in reacting to these efforts. Playboy has regularly lashed out against Wildmon, presumably because of his attacks on retail outlets that sell the magazine. Other media simply ignore him.

In 1994 Wildmon's attacks hit a crescendo and gained national attention when he brought to public attention, before its airing on ABC, the controversial cop show, NYPD Blue. The show's producer, Steven Bochco, had indicated that he would push the frontier of what would be seen on prime time TV with a series that included controversial language, adult situations, perhaps even brief nudity. This would be television akin to what might be seen in R-rated movies. Wildmon called for a boycott--loudly. Between Bochco's near pandering-like promotions and Wildmon's protests, the show attracted viewers and received good ratings, as well as many positive critical notices. A number of ABC affiliates chose not to carry the show, however, and there was some controversy surrounding its advertisers. But the viewing public soon became acclimated; the show did not seem strikingly indecent to many and it continued unchanged through the season. Wildmon later conceded that his loud protests against the show probably attracted attention to it.

It is interesting to note that while the idea of consumer activism and consumer boycotting came from liberals in the 1960s and 1970s, in ensuing decades such causes and tactics came from the right. Donald Wildmon, as leader of the forces attacking the media and television in particular, brought to many people the idea that they were not helpless in countering media influences. In doing so, he has taken a prominent place in a long line of advocates addressing the social and cultural role of television.

-Val E. Limberg