Former Fox exec urges FCC to reconsider petition to revoke Fox 29 license
“Fox and the Murdochs’ lies to the American people had consequences,“ Preston Padden wrote in a Tuesday letter to the FCC. ”Those lies undermined public confidence in the electoral process."
A former Fox broadcasting executive submitted a letter to the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday asking the agency to reconsider a petition seeking to terminate the license of the network’s Philadelphia-area affiliate, Fox29.
Preston Padden, who worked as a senior executive at the broadcasting network controlled by Rupert Murdoch and his family in the 1990s, has been a vocal critic of Fox News and its coverage of the 2020 election and an early supporter of the petition.
In his letter to the FCC, Padden writes that Fox and the Murdochs lied to the American people by reporting that the 2020 election was stolen, despite knowing that it was untrue.
He cites court findings in the defamation case brought against Fox News by Dominion Voting Systems, which resulted in a $787 million settlement.
“Fox and the Murdochs’ lies to the American people had consequences,“ Padden wrote. ”Those lies undermined public confidence in the electoral process."
Neither Padden nor Fox’s attorneys responded to requests for comment.
Padden’s letter urged the FCC to respond to an appeal of the order denying the challenge to Fox29’s license.
The FCC dismissed in January a challenge to Fox29’s license renewal that was brought by the Media and Democracy Project, a self-described nonpartisan nonprofit. The petition, originally filed in July 2023, accused Fox of broadcasting “knowingly false narratives about the 2020 election” on the cable-based Fox News Channel.
Former FCC chairperson Jessica Rosenworcel, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, said in a statement accompanying the dismissal of the petition, alongside three other complaints targeting local TV stations, that the order was intended to direct the agency to “take a stand on behalf of the First Amendment.”
“We draw a bright line at a moment when clarity about government interference with the free press is needed more than ever,” she said.
The challenge is not based on materials broadcast on Fox29, or the local channel’s journalism. Instead, character requirements for broadcast license owners that include a prohibition on “broadcasting false information that causes substantial ‘public harm.'”
The examples in the FCC’s consumer guide are related to a crime or a catastrophe.
Fox said in its filings with the FCC that revoking Fox29’s license would be “fundamentally incompatible with the First Amendment.”
The Media and Democracy Project’s appeal is still pending, and is now in the hands of FCC chair Brendan Carr, a President Donald Trump appointee who has been criticized for interfering in broadcasters’ editorial decisions.
In September, ABC temporarily removed Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show from broadcast after a threat Carr made on a conservative podcast.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said following remarks Kimmel made about the assassination of conservative commentator and activist Charlie Kirk. “These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Carr also reopened previously dismissed complaints of ABC’s moderation of a 2020 presidential debate and CBS’s 60 Minutes interview of then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
He also blasted news organizations over their coverage of the deportation of the immigrant Kilmar Abrego García.
Arthur Belendiuk, the attorney for the Media and Democracy Project, said he expects to “grow old and die” before Carr issues a response. Even if Carr denies the appeal, he would open the possibility of an appeal to court.
Belendiuk believes that’s a risk the FCC chair will not take.
“If you, Brendan Carr, think you are right, issue a decision and defend it in court,” the attorney said. “Be a man.”
Staff writers Rob Tornoe and Nick Vadala contributed to this article.