Today, the Media and Democracy Project (MAD) received support from 25,532 individuals demanding that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hold a hearing to investigate whether FOX and its leadership have violated FCC rules on the character required for broadcast licensees. The 611-page filing includes signatories from all fifty states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico and marks the one-year anniversary of MAD’s Petition to Deny the broadcast license renewal application for FOX Corporation-owned television station FOX 29 Philadelphia (WTXF).
“Rarely does an FCC proceeding generate such a groundswell of public engagement, and we’re thrilled to have so many supporters joining our effort,” said Milo Vassallo, the executive director of MAD. “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.”
The filing represents the views of concerned citizens joining MAD in demanding a hearing and according to the filing, “petitioning their government to investigate FOX, a greedy corporation that did incalculable harm when it actively sought to undermine the 2020 presidential election for the sake of its corporate profits.” They join a growing bipartisan chorus of former FCC officials, media veterans, and a noted First Amendment scholar supporting MAD’s petition.
MAD’s Petition to Deny documents serious character and rule violations relating to WTXF’s parent corporation’s egregious conduct—spreading dangerous misinformation about the 2020 election all to protect the FOX media empire’s profits. The intentional distortion of news, authorized at the highest levels of FOX’s corporate structure, and fabricated by management and on-air personalities, represents a severe breach of the FCC’s policy on licensee character qualifications.
Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch’s actions outlined in the court decision in Dominion v. FOX “shock the conscience.” The people deserve to know the full truth about FOX’s decisions, which showed discord in the 2020 election and contributed to the attack on our nation’s Capitol on January 6, 2021. In light of serious allegations of rule violations and concerns regarding character, on October 9, 2023, MAD filed a motion requesting the FCC to compel FOX to produce key nonpublic discovery from its various lawsuits to ensure full transparency and accountability for its actions.
“Never in the history of the Commission has the agency been confronted with a license renewal applicant whose parent company was found by a court of law to have repeatedly presented false news,” said former FOX Broadcasting executive Preston Padden. “We are proud to be joined by so many in calling for a hearing and urge the Media Bureau to compel FOX to produce key discovery that has been withheld from the public.”
It’s been nine months since the motion for discovery was filed, and outside opening the petition for Public Comment, the FCC has been silent.
Today’s filing says this of the 25,532 individuals: “Petitioners have each volunteered their names in support of this effort because they believe that owning a broadcast station is more than a business—it is a public trust.” Now, it is more important than ever for the Commission to move swiftly to investigate and designate this matter for a hearing.
