OCT 17, 2023: MAD meets with FCC Media Bureau

On October 19, 2023, MAD petitioners and allies met with the FCC Media Bureau staff making the case for inquiry into Fox and Murdoch fitness to hold local TV licenses.

Petitioners in attendance included MAD representatives Milo Vassallo, executive director, Art Belendiuk, counsel, and advisor David Goodfriend, along with former Fox analyst William Kristol, former Fox executive Preston Padden, former lead outside counsel for Fox Broadcasting Company, Bill Reyner; and former Republican FCC chair Al Sikes.

Senior FCC officials attending the meeting included Media Bureau chief Holly Saurer and Video Division chief Barbara Kreisman.

"We were proud to bring a highly esteemed group before the Media Bureau to make our case and are confident we'll be hard for the Commission to ignore,” Padden said in a statement.

They discussed how the lies about the 2020 election that aired on Fox News, authorized at the highest levels of FOX’s corporate structure represented egregious misconduct that shocks the conscience and severely violates the FCC policy on licensee character qualifications. The group also underscored the need for the Commission to designate WTXF’s broadcast license renewal for a hearing.

A “permit-but-disclose” proceeding allows such meetings and requires that they be reported in a timely way to ensure the parties to the case and the full public are informed of all relevant communications.

The MAD filing can be found here.
The press release can be found here.