The Media and Democracy Project submitted a petition with 25,532 signatures calling for an FCC hearing on whether Fox News' conduct during the 2020 election violated the agency's requirements for broadcast licensees. The item was filed on the one-year anniversary of MAD’s original filing challenging the license renewal of Fox-owned station WTXF-TV Philadelphia and includes signatories from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, MAD said. The FCC has not acted on MAD’s petition to deny. “These thousands of signees want satisfaction for the discord Fox has sown, alienating friend from friend and family member from family member over contrivances it pushed to preserve ratings and profits,” the filing said. “While FOX has peppered this proceeding with politicians and sports teams, we have dedicated our efforts to educating everyday Americans about the FCC’s role in determining whether FOX's leadership meets the character expected of a broadcast licensee,” MAD Executive Director Milo Vassalo said. A New York Times article Tuesday reported that Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch is involved in a court battle with several of his children over changes to the family trust and ownership of Fox. Former Fox and Disney executive Preston Padden, who supports MAD’s petition, said the FCC would have to act if control of Fox is transferred from Rupert Murdoch to one of his sons. Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman said that while the agency normally resolves license challenges before a transfer of control is complete, it could simply deny the MAD petition or refuse action on the transfer. Fox didn’t comment.
The FCC should grant the renewal of Fox station WTXF Philadelphia’s license “without further delay,” Fox said in a letter posted Tuesday (docket 23-292) (see 2406130060). The renewal process stalled in June 2023, when the Media and Democracy Project filed a petition against it over Fox’s dissemination of misinformation about the 2020 election. “With each month that passes and each filing entered into this docket, it becomes even more evident that the record in this proceeding is complete,” Fox said. “MAD has not introduced any additional points that could salvage its petition” in the 10 months since the FCC opened a docket on the matter, Fox argued. The FCC “should weigh the evidence in the record, apply the law fairly, and grant Fox 29 Philadelphia’s license renewal application,” the petitioner added.
The popularity of Fox's WTXF Philadelphia TV station is immaterial to whether the license applicants, Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch and Fox, have shown the character required of broadcast licensees, Fox critics said in docket 23-293 this week. The filers backed the Media and Democracy Project's request for nonpublic evidence submitted in court cases against Fox by voting machine companies (see 2403040080). Signatories to the filing include former FCC Chairman Alfred Sikes, former Weekly Standard editor William Kristol and William Reyner, former regulatory counsel for News Corp. and Fox. The filing was in response to filings by the Philadelphia Phillies professional baseball team, 76ers professional basketball team and Flyers professional hockey team in support of the Fox affiliate station.
Sixteen Pennsylvania House of Delegates Democrats and Drexel University law professor Tabatha Abu El-Haj are supporting calls for the FCC to approve the license renewal of Fox’s TV station WTXF Philadelphia, according to ex parte filings in docket 23-293 last week (see 2403060088). “If the FCC removes FOX 29’s broadcasting rights, it will deny Pennsylvanians a local outlet that helps increase political engagement,” said Abu El-Haj's letter. “The FCC should not go down this dangerous path and allow FOX 29 to get back to serving the state of Philadelphia without distraction.” The TV station “provides high-quality, unbiased coverage of Philadelphia and Delaware County’s news and reports on important issues affecting some of the most vulnerable groups in our state,” said the legislators' letter.
The numerous testimonials from local residents and public officials supporting the renewal of Fox's TV station WTXF Philadelphia “stand in stark contrast” to the “continued stunts” of the Media and Democracy Project, Fox said in an ex parte filing posted in docket 23-293 Wednesday. FCC rules require the agency to consider "four specific categories of non-FCC conduct" as relevant to the character of a licensee, “none of which pertain to anything alleged by MAD,” Fox said. Those categories are criminal convictions, mass-media antitrust violations, crimes involving false statements to other government entities, and “egregious” misconduct. MAD’s recent request that the FCC grant it access to nonpublic court documents related to defamation cases against Fox (see: 2403040080) to bolster its arguments shows that MAD admits it hasn’t adequately made its case, Fox said. “Whether ‘bolster[ed]’ or not, such allegations are irrelevant to this proceeding,” Fox said. “Put simply, there is no justification for continued delay, and the Commission should move swiftly to conclude this proceeding by granting Fox 29 Philadelphia’s license renewal application.” MAD didn’t comment.
A recent letter from Pennsylvania's two U.S. senators urging the FCC to swiftly act on Fox affiliate WTXF-Philadelphia's license renewal application was a "lukewarm endorsement" for the station, said the Media and Democracy Project (MAD) in a letter to the FCC posted in docket 23-293 Monday. MAD and former Fox and Disney lobbyist Preston Padden want the agency to designate WTXF's license for a hearing (see 2307060065). Sens. John Fetterman and Bob Casey, both Democrats, last month wrote a letter to the FCC supporting the station (see 2402260064): "Politicians -- even those of the highest integrity like Senators Casey and Fetterman -- don’t want to ‘piss off’ a TV station that will cover their election," Padden said in an email last week. MAD seconded the senators' call for swift action but said the agency "must first conduct a thorough investigation of the serious rule violations and character allegations" against Fox and that the FCC hasn't indicated it is conducting such a probe. An investigation would require granting MAD's request for nonpublic evidence submitted in court cases brought against Fox by voting machine companies, MAD said. "Airing of these documents is essential to the fair and neutral review that the senators request," the MAD letter said. Fetterman, Casey and Fox didn't comment.
Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman, both D-Pa., are urging the FCC to “act swiftly to conclude its review” of Fox station WTXF Philadelphia's license renewal application. The Media and Democracy Project has petitioned the FCC since July against renewing WTXF’s license based on disclosures from the Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox defamation lawsuit and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol (see 2307060065). Other federal and Pennsylvania Democratic lawmakers have spoken in favor of WTXF (see 2402220076). “It is critical” that the FCC administer the renewal review process “in a fair and neutral manner, as it has been for decades,” Casey and Fetterman said in a Friday letter to the FCC posted Monday. WTXF “has provided a platform that uplifts Philadelphia's diverse voices and supports local journalism, and we hope that its delivery of local news and local programming to the community is not disrupted.” The record in the renewal proceeding “is replete with comments from Philadelphia residents, organizations, and elected officials from a range of backgrounds attesting to the station's commitment to upholding the core values of local broadcasting and to serving Philadelphia’s residents,” the senators said: “We hope that you take these comments as a testament to the importance this station has in the community.”
The FCC should listen to Philadelphians rather than the “politically motivated” out-of-state Media and Democracy Project on the license renewal of Fox’s WTXF Philadelphia (see 2401310059), said Pennsylvania State Sen. Anthony Williams (D) in a letter to the FCC posted in docket 23-293 Thursday. “Here in the city, and the boroughs and suburbs that my colleagues represent, Fox 29 serves as a resource for all local leaders to relay information to constituents and audiences that otherwise would be more difficult to reach,” said Williams. The station is “a critical part of not just the Philadelphia media ecosystem, but a useful tool for state-level representatives to communicate policy to constituents," said Williams.
FCC action against Fox station WTXF Philadelphia's license would create a “perilous regulatory environment” and expose broadcasters to constant threats against their licenses, Fox said in a letter to the FCC Tuesday. The letter responded to recent filings from former Fox and Disney executive Preston Padden seeking to add to the FCC record filings from an ongoing defamation case against Fox by the Smartmatic voting machine company (see 2401250072). Padden is part of the Media and Democracy Project effort against WTXF’s license renewal. The Smartmatic case and a settlement Fox reached with Dominion voting machine company don’t involve allegations of conduct that violates the FCC’s character policy and neither case includes a final adjudication against Fox, the Fox letter said. The FCC “can and should deny MAD’s petition on the basis that no claim has been pled that is recognized by the Commission’s own precedent or the Communications Act.” A broadcast license renewal proceeding “is not a venue for adjudicating cable network content,” said Fox. The FCC character policy includes provisions where the agency can consider a licensee's egregious misconduct outside the broadcasting context, Padden wrote in an email. Fox countered that if broadcast licenses can be threatened “based solely on unadjudicated allegations made by a third party in an unrelated civil proceeding,” the FCC process could easily be abused “in attempts to silence disfavored speakers across the political spectrum.” Fox added: “Fortunately, MAD’s law is not the law of the Commission or Congress.” In additional comments filed Wednesday, Padden said: "Leaving aside the indisputable fact that Fox News Channel reports and stories ARE broadcast by the Fox Owned Television Stations including WTXF, I respectfully submit that the Murdochs and Fox are simply flat wrong in arguing that their actions in businesses other than the television stations are not relevant to evaluation of their Character for broadcast licensing purposes."
Longtime First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams is supporting the campaign against a license renewal for Fox station WTXF Philadelphia (see 2310100068). Abrams is known for defending newspapers and broadcasters against the government in high-profile cases such as the New York Times' litigation over the Pentagon Papers. “Broadcasters do have considerable First Amendment rights -- a good deal of my career has been devoted to seeking to establish just that -- but ... repeated distortion of information that is broadcast about a forthcoming election is precisely what a broadcaster may not do and that the Commission may consider in determining whether license renewal is appropriate,” said Abrams in informal comments filed with the FCC. Former FCC Chairman Alfred Sikes and former Weekly Standard editor William Kristol are also part of the campaign, which the Media and Democracy Project and former Fox and Disney executive Preston Padden are spearheading. Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, denounced the effort, and the FCC has received letters supporting WTXF from public officials and organizations, including former Undersecretary of the Army Patrick Murphy, the African-American Chamber of Commerce for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, and the Democratic chairwoman of the city’s delegation to the state House. Padden Thursday also filed comments calling on the agency to include in its record a recent New York State Supreme Court ruling denying Fox’s motion to dismiss a defamation claim from voting machine company Smartmatic. “The Media and Democracy Project petition to deny the license renewal of WTXF-TV is frivolous, completely without merit and asks the FCC to upend the First Amendment and long-standing FCC precedent,” said Fox. “WTXF-TV / FOX 29 News Philadelphia is one of the finest local news stations in the country, broadcasting over 60 hours of local news and locally produced programming every week, and has tremendous broad political and community support.”