A grassroots organization that encouraged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reject an application to renew the license of a Fox-owned television station in Philadelphia has filed an appeal after the agency declined to do so in January.
The objection, filed by the Media and Democracy (MAD) Project two years ago, sought the rejection of what is typically a routine application to renew the license of WTXF (Channel 29), on the basis that the station is co-owned by Fox Corporation.
Specifically, the petition said Fox could not pass a character test imposed by the FCC when licensing new broadcast stations or deciding to renew the license of current stations because Fox had agreed to settle $787.5 million over election-related misinformation aired on its two cable news channels.
After a lengthy period of public comment, the FCC ultimately rejected the petition, saying the cable news channels and the broadcast station in question were distinctive enough businesses, even if they are co-owned, and that MAD Project could not demonstrate that any of the election-related misinformation actually aired on WTXF.
A spokesperson for the MAD Project told The Desk in early February that the organization was readying an appeal on the matter. The appeal was filed on February 19, with MAD Project saying the agency “a series of serious errors that are inconsistent with the commission’s prior precedent” and a prevailing law known as the Communications Act.
“The decision by previous FCC leadership to ignore Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch’s serious character flaws highlighted in multiple court decisions was as misguided as the current Chair’s decision not to resurrect MAD’s petition,” said Brian Hansbury, the co-founder of MAD Project. “The adjudicated factual findings in the Dominion case, undisputed by Fox, form the backbone of our petition and clearly distinguish it from the frivolous challenges against other networks, which are nothing more than a hyper-partisan attempt to facilitate President Trump’s terrifying attempts to censor and coerce speech.”
The original decision in the case was made by the FCC’s Media Bureau; the appeal sends the matter to the full FCC board. In late January, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr succeeded Jessica Rosenworcel in that role, and now leads the agency. He unilaterally reopened a number of investigations against network-owned local TV broadcasters that Rosenworcel and the Media Bureau had dismissed in January, but did not reopen the WTXF matter.
In its petition, MAD Project accused Rosenworcel of making a “politically-motivated” decision to toss the challenge. The petition affirmed that Carr reopened challenges brought by a single organization against TV stations owned by Disney (ABC), Paramount (CBS) and Comcast (NBC), but did not reopen the investigation against Fox and WTXF.
Carr has not explained his reasons for rescinding the decisions made by Rosenworcel against three of the four broadcast networks, but not doing the same with the WTXF case. But at an industry appearance last week, the FCC chairman said many of his actions over the past few weeks were in line with the legal precedent that was set under Rosenworcel.
“We’re coming out of a period, in my view, where there was a lot of weaponization at the FCC,” Carr said. He offered up the decision to open the WTXF license issue to public comment as evidence, and claimed that the Media Bureau under Rosenworcel did not act on around 200 renewal applications filed by Sinclair, Inc. during her time leading the agency.
“I’m happy to apply the case law that the Democrats set,” Carr affirmed.
That is likely to be bad news for MAD Project’s appeal. Rosenworcel’s departure created a vacancy on the board, one that is expected to be filled by Olivia Trusty, who was nominated by President Trump last month. Her nomination requires Congressional approval, and until that happens, the FCC will be evenly split along party lines — making it highly unlikely that the agency will decide anything substantial for at least the next few weeks, if not months.
Once Trusty fills the vacancy — and there are few political barriers to prevent her confirmation — the Republicans will have a narrow majority. Carr’s discomfort with how his predecessor handled the WTXF matter is unlikely to see the agency grant the MAD Project a win in the case, even if they believe the law is on their side.
