Fox Claims First Amendment Protection From Petition To Deny FCC Broadcast License Renewal

Fox Corporation filed its response to a petition from the Media and Democracy Project (MAD) on Wednesday, claiming that their First Amendment rights restrain the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from investigating the merit of the petition filed in July that seeks to deny the renewal of the broadcast license for Fox 29 in Philadelphia.

The official petition from last month clearly stipulates that Fox’s, “intentional news distortion,” regarding Donald Trump’s false election claims in 2020, “violate the FCC’s policy on the character required of broadcast licensees,” and warrants a “revocation of FOX broadcast licenses.”

The challenge appeared to gaining momentum as it received support from Bill Kristol, an ex-Fox News star pundit, and Ervin Duggan, who is an ex-PBS president. Kristol and Duggan filed an informal letter on July 31 urging the FCC to consider a hearing on Fox’s character fitness.

Preston Padden, a former Fox executive, has led the public interest group MAD in challenging Fox with the petition to the FCC.  

Fox attorneys filed their response just days after the letter from Kristol and Duggan, claiming First Amendment protections:

It also would, for the first time in history, have the Commission adjudicate a broadcast license renewal on the basis of cable network content, in violation of the First Amendment and the authority delegated to the Commission by Congress.

In their objection to the MAD petition, the Fox attorneys also cited a Biden-appointed FCC chair, “As explained by Chairwoman [Jessica] Rosenworcel a few years ago, the government making editorial decisions about content in the course of a broadcast license renewal proceeding ‘would be an affront to our First Amendment tradition.’”

Despite revelations that surfaced during the Dominion defamation lawsuit exposing internal messages from senior management at Fox Corp indicating their cognizance of election lies, the Fox attorneys maintain that the litigation has “no bearing” on their station’s FCC license renewal.

“MAD’s attempt to transform a civil defamation case into a license revocation action likewise would put the Commission on a collision course with the First Amendment,” Fox told the FCC in its objection.

Although the Dominion lawsuit was settled for $787.5 million, leaders of the MAD movement are unsatisfied with the extent of the repercussions of Fox Corp’s actions. 

“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,” MAD pleaded in their official filing. 

Padden and the other petitioners assert that “at a minimum” the renewal of the FCC broadcasting license be designated a hearing.  

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