Padden Supports Petition to Deny Fox Station License Over Jan. 6 Misinformation
A public interest group and a former Fox executive are calling on the FCC to block the license renewal of a Fox-owned TV station over the network’s misinformation about the 2020 election. The Media and Democracy Project’s petition to deny the renewal of WTFX-TV Philadelphia includes a declaration from former Fox executive and longtime communications lobbyist Preston Padden with communications to him from Fox head Rupert Murdoch that MAD says show Murdoch knew that information FOX stations were broadcasting was false. “It was obvious to me that Mr. Murdoch knew that Trump had lost the election and there was no basis for claiming election fraud,” said Padden’s declaration.
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The court decision in voting machine company Dominion’s lawsuit against Fox held the company liable for false broadcasts, which means Fox doesn’t meet the character qualifications to be an FCC licensee, said a MAD news release. “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.” “Petitioners seek an evidentiary hearing that they are confident will result in findings of fact warranting Commission denial of FOX’s renewal application, revocation of its broadcast licenses, and a determination that FOX lacks the character qualifications required of licensees,” said the filing.
The FCC has historically been reluctant to involve itself in matters of broadcast content, but a 2007 radio contest that ended with the death of a participant caused the agency to order an evidentiary hearing, and the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol resulted in multiple deaths and acts of violence, said Smithwick and Belendiuk attorney Arthur Belendiuk, who represents MAD. WTFX is one of 29 Fox-owned stations. “Owning a broadcast station is more than a business -- it is a public trust. Never before has the Commission been confronted with so much evidence attached to a petition that clearly shows that an FCC broadcast licensee undermined that trust,” said MAD. Fox and Padden didn’t immediately comment.