Aug. 22, 2023: MAD filed rebuttal to FOX’s reply

On August 22, 2023, MAD filed a reply to Fox Television Stations’ (FTS) Aug. 2 filing opposing MAD’s original petition.

“The FTS Opposition purposefully avoids any discussion, or even mention, of MAD’s allegations in its Petition…of serious misconduct by Fox” other than contending that activities of Fox’s cable channels are “irrelevant” to the WTXF license, says MAD’s response.

On the contrary, however, “there is no obligation of a broadcast licensee more fundamental than the obligation to serve the public interest by truthfully informing viewers,“ MAD asserts.

Moreover, evidence shows that top executives of Fox Corporation, including Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch – the ultimate owners of the WTXF license — were fully aware that Fox cable programs’ many allegations of election rigging “were false and baseless.”

This clearly raises a character question, MAD argues: “If Fox can lie to millions of viewers on its cable channels about something so fundamental to our democracy as a presidential election, what is to stop it from lying to its television viewers? More importantly, what is to stop Fox from lying to the Commission concerning its day-to-day regulatory obligations?”

MAD’s reply to the Fox’s August 2 FCC filing is here.
The press release can be found here.