Preston Padden, former Fox executive who says he successfully secured waivers of numerous laws and regulations necessary/helpful to launch Fox Broadcasting for Rupert Murdoch, thinks it's time for the FCC to take a long, hard look at pulling those licenses. Via the Daily Beast:
False news has consequences. Despite all the factual information available to the contrary, millions of Americans, including Fox viewers, believe that the 2020 election was stolen. The rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 were chanting “Stop the Steal.”
To the best of my knowledge, the FCC never before has been confronted with a judicial holding that a broadcast licensee knowingly and repeatedly presented false news. It is hard to imagine an issue that more directly impacts a broadcast licensee’s character qualifications. Can anyone imagine Walter Cronkite, Peter Jennings, or Tom Brokaw (and their bosses Bill Paley, Tom Murphy and Jack Welch) knowingly and repeatedly presenting false news? It simply is unimaginable.
So, the issue at hand is: Should the FCC review Fox’s character qualifications to remain a steward of the public airwaves?
As Tucker Carlson would say, "Just asking the question."
Padden says he contacted Murdoch after the Dominion case, urging him to broadcast a statement including the fact that there was no evidence the election was stolen, as Trump insists.
The response? “I’ll think about it. Perhaps something like that in a few days!”
Nothing happened.
One of the charitable organizations to which Fox contributes is the News Literacy Project, which I suppose is the equivalent of the old-style Mafia dons who built churches, hoping it would get them into heaven.
