Aug. 20, 2023: Former GOP FCC Chairman, Al Sikes filed in support of the MAD petition

On August 20 2023, former Republican FCC chairman Alfred Sikes filed an objection to Fox’s license-renewal application for WTXF.

As FCC Chair, he opposed those “who, for competitive reasons, tried to block Rupert Murdoch’s efforts to launch Fox Broadcasting Company,” Sikes wrote. The MAD petition opposing Fox’s continued ownership WTXF-TV, however, is no mere rivalry among business competitors but a more compelling and fundamental argument about Fox’s present behavior, he said.

The dispute stems directly “from news and commentary [presented by Fox entities] in the aftermath of the 2020 election won by President Joe Biden,” Sikes wrote. The Fox-owned entities chose “fiction over non-fiction to make many of [their] listeners and viewers happy. They knew the facts and decided to ignore them.”

Given that scenario, the key issue now is whether a business that behaves in that way can be a suitable owner for a broadcast station that’s statutorily required to operate in the “public interest.” And this means that a major question hangs over what the FCC does next, Sikes said.

Over time “the FCC has allowed [license owners’ statutorily required] pledge to operate in the public interest to become perfunctory at best,” Sikes said. Is the pledge now “just some bureaucratic construct or a legally enforceable requirement?”

 The bottom line, according to Sikes: If the public-interest requirement is a meaningful one, the FCC must hold a hearing on the WTXF license-renewal application. The “application should be closely scrutinized in public hearings and court rooms….The behavior of Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch…raises a first principles question. Is truthful conduct a part of the standard?”

The Sikes FCC filing is here
The press release is available here.