Your April 29 editorial "We don't deserve this" correctly highlights the challenges parents face when making decisions about what television content is appropriate for their children to watch.

However, I was disappointed that you failed to mention the vast array of information parents have at their disposal that helps them understand programming content, as well as the universal existence of parental controls via cable, satellite or the V-chip.

In your editorial, you cite the Parents Television Council but fail to mention the group's ongoing lobbying campaigns that are directed at regulators and lawmakers, with the intention to make government the arbiter of television programming. And while some parents may applaud increased government regulation of television as a solution, the majority of parents don't. According to a recent poll, 92 percent of parents believe that parents, not the government, should make television-content decisions.

Americans reserve the right to make decisions over appropriate programming based on their own taste, values and style. It is a right solidified by parents' ability to control their children's viewing with information, technology and old-fashioned rules.

Jim Dyke, Charleston, S.C.
(The writer is executive director of the advocacy group Television Watch.)