Aug. 2, 2023: Fox filed with FCC in opposition to MAD petition

On August 2, 2023 Fox filed arguments disputing those laid out in MAD’s July 3 petition.

Fox claimed that “MAD misconstrues and misapplies the Commission’s character policies for broadcast licensees”.

 In particular, it rejects MAD’s contention that the Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation case against Fox is relevant to an FCC character analysis regarding Fox’s fitness to own the broadcast station WTXF. The Dominion case, in which a court found Fox cable news programs to have promulgated numerous lies about the 2020 election, is simply “unrelated” to the character question, the filing contends.

Fox charges that MAD’s emphasis on what it deems problematic false content promulgated by Fox cable news personalities is simply an assault on Fox’s First Amendment rights. ”MAD has not set forth any facts that would justify departure from this long-held commitment to the First Amendment principles undergirding the regulation of broadcast media.”

In its petition, MAD has turned to these “specious” arguments because “there is no credible basis to question whether FTS has operated [WTXF] fully in the public interest,” the Fox filing asserts. “The FTS has operated the Station fully in the public  interest, and the Station has served viewers throughout the Philadelphia Designated Market Area (‘DMA”’) exceptionally well for decades.”

The Fox filing can be found here.
MAD’s reply defending the claims is here.