Fox Philly Station License Renewal Challenged Over False Election Claims, Jan. 6 Riot

An advocacy group is asking the Federal Communications Commission to deny the broadcast license renewal application of a Fox Corp.-owned station in Philadelphia over its reporting of “knowingly false narratives about the 2020 election.”

The Media and Democracy Project filed a petition with the FCC seeking to deny the license, stating that it is seeking to “hold Fox accountable” for the material it broadcast. Its petition is backed by former Fox executive Preston Padden, and includes emails he exchanged with Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch in the aftermath of the election.

“As an FCC broadcast licensee Fox is bound to broadcast in the public interest, convenience, and necessity,” the petition states. “Instead, it has repeatedly aired false information about election fraud, sowing discord in the country and contributing to harmful and dangerous acts on January 6, 2021. Fox’s intentional news distortion, sanctioned at the highest levels of its corporate structure, and fabricated by management and news hosts amounts to misconduct that violates the FCC’s policy on the character required of broadcast licensees, and was so egregious as to shock the conscience.”

The Philadelphia station, which began broadcasting as an independent station in 1965, became an affiliate of the then-fledgling Fox Network in 1987. It was acquired and sold by several media companies before Fox Television Stations purchased it in 1995.

Among its most notable offerings is Philadelphia Eagles football.

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The 20-page petition notes that the local station, one of 29 stations Fox owns around the country, uses content produced by Fox News and its various divisions, including Fox Business and Fox Digital.

Citing the torrent of revelations from the Dominion Voting Systems suit against Fox Corp. that showed executives and hosts knew they were airing a false narrative about the 2020 election, which resulted in a $787.5 million settlement, the petition recounts that Fox “continued to pitch this story of a stolen election to its viewers” when it was faced with a backlash from viewers and declining ratings after factually reporting that Donald Trump lost the race. The petition adds that the reporting “significantly contributed to the January 6, 2021, storming of the Capitol building and its terrible and lasting consequences for this country.”

The petition includes the texts of emails from Rupert Murdoch to former Fox executive Padden, who left the company in 1997 but maintained a relationship with his former boss, including one speculating on whether Trump would give up his claims that he won. “Seems Trump listening to terrible advice from Giuliani versus Trump family wanting to wave white flag!” one Murdoch email said. “Not sure of this but sounds likely. Melania very level headed. Ivanka too but would never go public.”

The Philadelphia station airs “Fox News Sunday,” which the filing claims makes the local affiliate an “over-the-air extension of Fox News Channel.”

The filing argues that the court decision in the Dominion case, the evidence from Padden and other materials “strongly support this claim and call into serious question whether FOX has operated its stations in the public interest, whether it has violated Commission policies and whether it has the requisite character to remain an FCC licensee.” It argues that Fox has failed to meet its obligations to use broadcast spectrum in the public interest, and instead abused the public trust.

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It asks the commission to hold an evidentiary hearing “to determine on its own the extent of Fox’s willfulness in its misrepresentation of the news and whether Fox’s misconduct disqualifies it as an FCC licensee.” And it notes that the commission may consider misconduct of the applicant’s parent company if they have a “close and ongoing relationship.”

The FCC can rule only on the license for the Philadelphia station, which is a broadcast station. The Fox News Network airs on cable, which is overseen by the FCC but not regulated as tightly.

“Owning a broadcast station is more than a business – it is a public trust. It is crucial to our democracy that broadcasting remain a trusted source of news,” the petition states. “A company that knowingly and repeatedly presents false news just to placate its core viewers undermines that sense of trust. The false news presented by Fox has done grievous damage to our country and its citizens.”

Fox representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.