The Parents Television Council's press release, touting a study on violence in children's-television programming, rankled folks over at Nickelodeon more than the results of the study itself.

The press release, which claims that child-targeted programming on broadcast and cable channels contains more violence than primetime, adult-oriented television, cited an episode of Nick's SpongeBob SquarePants as an example a children's show featuring profane language. But while the "Sailor Mouth" episode in question--in which SpongeBob and starfish buddy Patrick innocently utter foul language that Nick bleeps out--the PTC release actually fills in the bleeps for readers by printing certain four-letter words the conservative group felt the two characters were actually saying.

Nickelodeon said "it's sad and a little desperate that they stooped to literally putting profane language in the mouths of our characters to make a point. Has the FCC looked at this?"

The Wire has often wondered when the FCC might start regulating offensive (or at least annoying) press releases.