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**AUGUST 28, 2023**
On the Prospect website
* Jarod Facundo on the latest UAW efforts to raise wages
<[link removed]'s NLRB is bringing back worker rights
<[link removed]'s character test.
Fox Corporation has not had a very good season. In April, the
company's Fox News unit agreed to pay $787.5 million
<[link removed]'s Republican
candidates' debate despite entreaties by Fox execs and on-air talent
<[link removed]'s far from clear who is in charge.
And Fox's problems are about to get worse. Fox is both a network and
the owner of 29 individual lucrative TV station franchises, including in
14 of the 15 largest markets
<[link removed]'s license for its Philadelphia franchise, WTXF, is currently up
for renewal, and is the subject of a campaign by several public-interest
groups that has broad and growing support. The FCC's criteria for
renewal include "character,"
<[link removed]'s license, led by the Media and Democracy Project, gained a
powerful ally in the person of Jamie Kellner, who was the founding
president of Fox News. Kellner's letter to the FCC
<[link removed]'s character, read in part:
Unlike the news feeds provided today by Fox News Channel, our news feeds
did not prominently feature advocates like Rudy Giuliani and Sidney
Powell spouting nonsensical lies about a Presidential election ... If
the character requirement for broadcast licensees is to have any
meaning, the FCC must designate the application for a hearing to
evaluate the Murdochs'/Fox's character qualifications to operate
WTFX [
**sic**] on the public airwaves.
Others who have filed objections include Alfred Sikes, a former
Republican FCC chairman, former Democratic FCC Commissioner Ervin
Duggan, and ex-Fox News Channel commentator Bill Kristol. Preston
Padden, a former Fox exec and Murdoch confidant, has written
<[link removed]"Mr.
Murdoch knew that Trump had lost the election. Nonetheless, Fox
continued to promote news stories and guests who claimed, without any
basis, that the election was rigged." Padden supports the anti-Fox
campaign.
In its filing, the Media and Democracy Project petition points out
<[link removed]'s lies concerning the outcome of the 2020 election caused a great
injury to the American people and the institutions of our democracy.
FOX's willingness to lie demonstrates a fatal character flaw.
If the FCC does agree to a hearing on the merits, it's hard to see how
Fox can get its license renewed. And this challenge will be followed by
28 more, as Fox's other licences come up for rolling review. If Fox
does get its license, we might as well scrap the FCC as meaningless. As
the Media and Democracy petition puts it:
This is not a First Amendment case. Rather the issue here concerns a
corporation that, with the full knowledge and approval of its
management, lied to millions of Americans. The question before the
Commission is not whether FOX had a right to lie, rather it is about the
consequences of those lies and the impact on FOX's qualifications to
remain an FCC licensee.
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
To receive this newsletter directly in your inbox, click here to
subscribe. <[link removed]'ll Stop the Raid?
<[link removed]'s
Medical Properties Trust engaged in 'fraudulent conveyance.' BY
MAUREEN TKACIK
Biden's NLRB Brings Workers' Rights Back From the Dead
<[link removed]
