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Chairman Pai has just announced a plan to waive media-ownership rules for Fox and allow the Murdoch family to control even more TV stations and newspapers in the New York City market. Take action now: Tell the FCC that this is unacceptable.
Friend,
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is hellbent on doing as much damage as possible before the Biden administration takes office. And that includes doling out one last favor for Rupert Murdoch.
Fox asked the Trump FCC to permanently waive a restriction that limits Fox’s TV station and newspaper ownership in the New York City market — where the company already owns two local-television stations and one local newspaper. This move would make Fox’s ownership of WWOR, WNYW and the New York Post permanent — despite the agency’s own rules that prohibit one company from controlling this many broadcast stations and newspaper outlets in a given market.
Chairman Pai is trying to quickly push this Fox request through the FCC, allowing for public comment only until Dec. 4. He’s hoping that this big-media handout will fall under the radar during the holiday season. But we’re here to make sure that doesn’t happen. Sign our petition and make it clear to Chairman Pai that handouts to Fox and the Murdoch family are not in the public interest.
It’s clear that the outgoing FCC’s Trump-allied members are set on doing as much damage as possible before they leave their positions in January. They’re moving quickly with their review of this proposal to bend the rules for Fox — even after House leadership called on the agency to refrain from making such controversial decisions in the final days of Trump’s term.
Chairman Pai’s eagerness to grant a permanent waiver to Fox is part of a pattern of bending over backward to put industry interests before those of the public.
If we’ve learned anything over the last year, it's that the Murdochs don't have the public interest in mind. The last thing we should be doing is awarding them with more control over the public airwaves. Tell the lame-duck FCC that any decision to waive media-ownership limits for Fox is unacceptable.
Thanks for all you do,
Lucia, Candace, Matt and the rest of the Free Press team
freepress.net
P.S. Fox already wields way too much control over our media. Urge the FCC to ditch its plan to permanently allow Fox to control even more TV stations and newspapers in the New York City market.
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