An analysis of television content shows steep declines in the portrayals of sex and violence on the small screen over the last couple of years, surprising the media watchdog group that conducted it. The Center for Media and Public Affairs, a Washington-based nonpartisan group, found that sexual material fell by 29% and serious violence by 17% from the 1998-99 TV season to the 2000-01 cycle. "There are multiple indicators that television is cleaning up its act," the center's president, S. Robert Lichter, said. "You can't know the future, but this is the first bit of good news in a while,...