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So much fun stuff!
Normally TV station license renewals are pretty much pro forma, rubber stamp exercises. And about the only time they don't get renewed is if the license holder has been convicted of a crime.
Well, for WTXF in Philadelphia, things are different this time around. Their renewal is being VERY publicly challenged by an advocacy group called Media and Democracy Project (MAD) for Fox's disinformation campaign in the previous election cycle, and on-going, a lot based on what was discovered in the Dominion law suit against Fox.
Normally renewals are not public matter, but MAD filed with the FCC to make the renewal project public. Fox, of course, objected, but the FCC said that in this case the reasons expressed by MAD showed a pretty clear public interest and allowed them. MAD says that Fox has shown "...that Fox lacks the character required to maintain a license and hopes other Fox stations will lose their licenses, too. No other Fox stations are up for license renewal until 2028, according to a Bloomberg article.
"Fox's intentional news distortion, sanctioned at the highest levels of its corporate structure and fabricated by management and news hosts, amounts to misconduct that violates the FCC's policy on the character required of broadcast licensees, and was so egregious as to shock the conscience," the petition said, asking for "an evidentiary hearing into FOX's misdeeds."
This could be a very interesting chink in the wall of Fox's broadcast empire, especially if one renewal can be successfully challenged - and possibly lead to a revocation! - then the next renewal in '28 will definitely be challenged. Perhaps not by MAD, but I'm sure someone else will be happy to step up to bat.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/08/petition-to-deny-fox-tv-license-over-false-election-info-gains-steam-at-fcc/
Normally TV station license renewals are pretty much pro forma, rubber stamp exercises. And about the only time they don't get renewed is if the license holder has been convicted of a crime.
Well, for WTXF in Philadelphia, things are different this time around. Their renewal is being VERY publicly challenged by an advocacy group called Media and Democracy Project (MAD) for Fox's disinformation campaign in the previous election cycle, and on-going, a lot based on what was discovered in the Dominion law suit against Fox.
Normally renewals are not public matter, but MAD filed with the FCC to make the renewal project public. Fox, of course, objected, but the FCC said that in this case the reasons expressed by MAD showed a pretty clear public interest and allowed them. MAD says that Fox has shown "...that Fox lacks the character required to maintain a license and hopes other Fox stations will lose their licenses, too. No other Fox stations are up for license renewal until 2028, according to a Bloomberg article.
"Fox's intentional news distortion, sanctioned at the highest levels of its corporate structure and fabricated by management and news hosts, amounts to misconduct that violates the FCC's policy on the character required of broadcast licensees, and was so egregious as to shock the conscience," the petition said, asking for "an evidentiary hearing into FOX's misdeeds."
This could be a very interesting chink in the wall of Fox's broadcast empire, especially if one renewal can be successfully challenged - and possibly lead to a revocation! - then the next renewal in '28 will definitely be challenged. Perhaps not by MAD, but I'm sure someone else will be happy to step up to bat.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/08/petition-to-deny-fox-tv-license-over-false-election-info-gains-steam-at-fcc/
