Media and Democracy Project Appeals Dismissal of WTXF Petition
The full FCC should reverse the Media Bureau’s dismissal of the Media and Democracy Project’s (MAD) petition against Fox’s WTXF Philadelphia, MAD said in an application for review Tuesday. The petition's dismissal under former FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel (see 2501160081)…
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was “politically manipulated” and intended to add “a patina of impartiality” to the contemporaneous dismissal of complaints against ABC, NBC and CBS, MAD said. Those complaints, from the Center for American Rights (CAR), weren’t based on court findings and “did not rise to the level” of the WTXF petition, MAD said. “In rescinding the three CAR decisions, while leaving the MAD decision to stand, [FCC Chairman Brendan] Carr doubled down on Rosenworcel’s biased, politically motivated adjudications,” the group said (see 2501220059). “It is not the duty of the FCC chair, whether a Republican or a Democrat, to play politics with legal proceedings,” and both parties' chairs "failed [in] their statutory duty.” The Media Bureau was incorrect not to consider the factual record and court findings from the litigation against Fox by Dominion Voting Systems over Fox’s 2020 election coverage, MAD said. It also disputed that its case against WTXF violates the First Amendment. “The question before the Commission is not whether Fox had a right to dissemble, rather it is about the consequences of those lies and the impact on Fox’s character qualifications to remain a Commission licensee.”