Former Fox Executive: Is It Time for the FCC to Take a Close Look at Rupert Murdoch's Licenses?

[babylonsister]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/former-fox-executive-preston-padden-on-the-fcc-and-rupert-murdochs-licenses?ref=home

Former Fox Executive: Is It Time for the FCC to Take a Close Look at Rupert Murdoch’s Licenses?
QUESTION OF CHARACTER
A judge found Fox News knowingly broadcast fake news. Will the feds do anything about it?
Preston Padden
Published Jun. 14, 2023 7:35PM ET

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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?

Just asking the question.


Preston Padden served in multiple executive roles at Fox; as president of the ABC Television Network; and as executive vice president of The Walt Disney Company

[Ptah]

1. The FCC doesn't have anything to do with cable TV.

[moonshinegnomie]

9. fox owns 28 over the air stations according ot the article

the author acknowledges they cant do anything about the cable stations but the over the air broadcasters could have their license pulled


from the article
In addition to Fox Broadcasting, Fox owns cable channels including Fox News Channel and 28 local broadcast TV stations. The Federal Communications Commission has almost no regulatory authority over cable channels like Fox News but heavily regulates local broadcast stations that use public airwaves

[Effete Snob]

2. Wow....

That guy thinks Fox News needs an FCC license?

Who did he pay to get his job?

[Mr. Sparkle]

3. The law needs to be changed. The FCC must regulate cable tv and the AM radio waves

both are just a bastion of hate and bullshit and since covid and Jan 6th, deadly

[Ptah]

4. The FCC regulates the AM radio waves.

[tritsofme]

5. Is that a nice way of saying you support government censorship of media?

Bullshit is not illegal, it is in fact protected speech.

[Mr. Sparkle]

6. Yes , yes it is

I would prefer the government regulate the media as fairly and openly as possible and not have the news agenda set by some right wing billionaire douchebags. Losing the fairness doctrine was a big mistake and the media has gone down hill since. Just 32% of the people have trust in the media, that's up 6% from a few yeas ago but still very low.

[tritsofme]

7. Your biggest problem there, is the First Amendment.

I see no role whatsoever for the government in regulating the content of media, I’ll leave that for authoritarian nations like Russia.

[Mr. Sparkle]

8. Your confusing regulation with propaganda

Most western countries regulate their media, that is why Fox news is no longer in the UK. Canada are thinking of ditching Fox as well.

[tritsofme]

11. Such propaganda is protected speech.

You seem to be confusing America with a country that permits media censorship by government.

Thankfully the First Amendment protects us from your authoritarian impulses.

[Mr. Sparkle]

14. No its not, the FCC could remove any broadcast license

In this article, they have suggested removing Murdoch's fox licenses due to his poor character . It wont happen but their are character qualifications criteria in been granted a license.

https://www.nbcnews.com/media/fcc-rupert-murdoch-fox-news-rcna74187

Try and understand what you are talking about, nothing is absolute.

[tritsofme]

16. Fox News is a cable network, they don't possess a broadcast license

The FCC has no power to regulate the content of their news broadcasts.

Again, thankfully the First Amendment constrains the authoritarian impulses of folks like you.

[Mr. Sparkle]

18. You should go on jeopardy

your talents are wasted here.

[tritsofme]

19. Sorry you can't use the government to ban views you don't like?

Maybe try Russia?

[tritsofme]

22. lol, I know I know, the First Amendment is very frustrating to authoritarians like yourself.

You are not the first or last.

I’ve always been partial to Oliver Wendell Holmes’ quote "if there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other, it is the principle of free thought—not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

15. Surprisingly

There is strong authoritarian streak at DU, especially around free speech.

[tritsofme]

17. Unfortunately it's become less and less surprising. But never less disappointing.

[Elessar Zappa]

10. We have the 1st amendment.

We can’t censor voices we don’t like.

[Mr. Sparkle]

12. Russia Today seems to be missing from the airwaves

How did that happen?

[tritsofme]

13. Well, the US government certainly didn't "ban" the outlet

[Mr. Sparkle]

21. oh, what happened ?

[tritsofme]

23. I'm sure your google machine works just fine, if you are so interested!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

24. Without commenting on the original premise of this thread, which has been beaten to death in

another thread, started yesterday, I should point out that there are still a few radio stations in the Russia Today family broadcasting in the United States.

RT America

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See also

• Sputnik (news agency), RT's sister service which provides radio and web content

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Sputnik (news agency)

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Radio services

"Radio Sputnik" redirects here. For other uses, see Radio Sputnik (disambiguation).

Radio Sputnik is the audio service of the Sputnik platform operating in 30 languages "for a total of over 800 hours a day, covering over 130 cities and 34 countries on "FM, DAB/DAB+ (Digital Radio Broadcasting), HD Radio, as well as mobile phones and the Internet." It is available on satellite transponders, including a 24-hour English service audible in North America via the Galaxy-19 satellite. Among the station's presenters are Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert who host the weekly talk show Double Down which concentrates on economics. Another talk show is By Any Means Necessary which is hosted by Eugene Puryear, while liberal talk radio host Thom Hartmann presents his own program which is syndicated on Sputnik each day.

Regarding plans for the U.S. broadcast market, the editor-in-chief of Sputnik U.S. said in a June 2017 interview that there were no immediate plans for expansion into markets beyond Washington, D.C. This came on the heels of a late June 2017 announcement that Radio Sputnik would sublease Reston, Virginia-licensed translator station W288BS (105.5 FM) from Reston Translator, LLC, which transmits from the WIAD tower in Bethesda, Maryland, and begin broadcasting Sputnik on that signal; the station's reach includes DC proper and the western suburbs in Northern Virginia. From November 2017, Radio Sputnik began to be carried on AM in Washington, D.C., on WZHF 1390 AM. The American owners of the stations were required to register as a foreign agent by the United States Department of Justice.

Sputnik is blocked from owning an American radio station outright due to Federal Communications Commission rules against foreign ownership of broadcast assets, as enacted in the Communications Act of 1934. Prior to 1 July 2017, Radio Sputnik (initially as its predecessor) had broadcast in the Washington, D.C., area on WTOP-HD2 (103.5-HD2) since June 2013, if not earlier. W288BS translates Urban One's WKYS (93.9)'s digital HD3 signal for analog broadcasting.

Sputnik distributes its programming to American stations via brokered programming, through agent Arnold Ferolito and his holding company RM Broadcasting, LLC. Its availability in Kansas City, Missouri on stations KCXL and KOJH from the beginning of January 2020 was contentious, especially in the latter case because the station has a jazz-centered community radio format and led to a clash on the radio spectrum.

Following the closure of the Echo of Moscow station on 3 March 2022, its frequencies were taken over by Radio Sputnik.

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