The White House is formally calling on Fox News to correct its dishonest coverage of bribery and corruption allegations against President Joe Biden.
In a letter sent to the right-wing network’s top brass this week, which Reliable Sources is first to report, Ian Sams, a top White House spokesperson, noted that the ex-FBI informant who was the source of the bribery claims has now been charged by federal authorities for allegedly fabricating the story.
“Despite this, Fox has taken no steps to retract, correct, or update its reporting on this false allegation from 2023,” Sams said in his letter to Fox News chief executive Suzanne Scott, president Jay Wallace, and Washington bureau chief Bryan Boughton.
Over the course of the last year, Fox News hosts have relentlessly promoted serious corruption claims against the purported “Biden crime family,” which have saturated the conservative information space, spawning GOP-led probes on Capitol Hill and fueling an eventual impeachment inquiry against the sitting president.
“I would cite the number of times Jesse Watters and Sean Hannity promoted this allegation and made false statements about President Biden on primetime television throughout this time period, but the footnote citations would fill multiple pages,” Sams underscored in his letter to the three top Fox News executives.
But when the FBI informant, Alexander Smirnov, was charged earlier this month with fabricating the bribery allegations against Biden, even apparently confessing that Russian intelligence was involved in seeding the smear, Fox News refused to walk back the story in a meaningful way.
Hannity, the network’s top promoter of the corruption claims, stuck by the narrative that he had promoted in dozens of segments (though he did disclose to viewers that the informant had been charged, spinning the development to attack the media). Elsewhere on the network, Watters used the arrest revelation as supposed evidence of an even deeper conspiracy theory, suggesting Biden was locking up Smirnov in retaliation for revealing the supposed scheme.
And while Fox News’ roster of unscrupulous right-wing hosts have declined to properly correct the record, the outlet’s supposedly non-partisan news website has also failed to update its “EXCLUSIVE” reporting from last summer publicly surfacing the informant’s false claims. Articles by reporter Brooke Singman advancing Smirnov’s bribery allegations remain unaltered on the Fox News website without a correction or mention that Smirnov has been charged with lying to the federal law enforcement about the very claims she reported.
To be clear, credible news organizations would not behave in such a manner. In fact, even before Smirnov was charged, responsible newsrooms viewed the bribery allegations as dubious at best. But Fox News has a poor relationship with the truth, often flooding the discourse with disinformation and conspiracy theories that contort to their audience’s conservative worldview. Last year, the network paid a historic $787.5 million defamation settlement to Dominion Voting Systems for the lies it told about the 2020 election.
Since Fox News has declined to take the responsible course of action and meaningfully correct the record, the White House is now moving to formally request the network do so.
“We feel strongly that all Fox News Digital articles on this topic should at a minimum be updated with editor’s notes informing readers that the source of this allegation has been federally indicted for making it up,” Sams wrote the three top executives. “We also feel strongly that Fox News Channel television personalities like Hannity and Watters, among others, should inform their viewers on air that they have been sharing a discredited allegation from a source who has been federally indicted for making it up.”
But a person familiar with the matter said that Fox News has informed the White House that it does not intend to correct its reporting. And, in a statement the network provided me, Fox News didn’t directly address the White House’s request for it to correct its previous coverage.
“Fox News Media has reported on all key developments since the announcement that Alexander Smirnov was charged with lying to the FBI, featuring the story prominently,” a network spokesperson told me. “We will continue to report on developments in all aspects of the ongoing investigations, hearings, and trials.”
Application of FOX Television Stations, LLC ) MB Docket No. 23-293
for Renewal of License of WTXF-TV, ) Facility ID 51568
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ) FRN: 0005795067
)
)
To: Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary
Attn. Holly Saurer, Chief Media Bureau
INFORMAL COMMENTS OF MILO VASSALLO, ALFRED SIKES, ERVIN DUGGAN, JAMIE KELLNER, BILL KRISTOL, WILLIAM REYNER, AND PRESTON PADDEN
Milo Vassallo, Executive Director of the Media and Democracy Project; Alfred Sikes, Former Republican Chairman of the FCC; Ervin Duggan, Former Democratic Commissioner of the FCC and Former President of the Public Broadcasting Service; Jamie Kellner, Founding President of the Fox Broadcasting Company; Bill Kristol, Former Editor of Rupert Murdoch’s “The Weekly Standard”; William Reyner, Former Lead Regulatory and Commercial Counsel for Rupert Murdoch/News Corporation/Fox; and Preston Padden, Former Executive of Fox Broadcasting Company and Former Lead Lobbyist for Rupert Murdoch/News Corporation/Fox; hereby submit these Joint Informal Comments.
INTRODUCTION
As internal documents and emails produced by Fox make clear, the Murdochs/Fox made a business decision to mislead the American people about the 2020 Presidential election and those false reports, interviews, news segments, and statements had consequences for our democracy and our society. Fox’s actions demonstrate that it lacks the character qualifications to remain a trustee of the public’s airwaves.
NOT ABOUT SPEECH
This proceeding is not about speech. This is about a Murdoch/Fox business decision that had disastrous consequences including (1) the January 6 attack on the Capitol and on police that resulted in injury and death (January 6th defendants are pleading that they suffered from “Foxitis”); (2) vicious attacks on election workers like Ruby Freeman and her daughter in Georgia wrongfully and repeatedly accused on Fox of election fraud; (3) threats against election workers in other States like Michigan which was forced to spend over $8 million on home security for these public servants; (4) attacks on judges and FBI offices and (5) undermining public confidence in the electoral process—actions that “shock the conscience”. Perhaps the most devastating consequence of the Murdochs/Fox presenting and endorsing a knowingly false narrative about the 2020 election is that despite all the evidence to the contrary, millions of Americans still believe that the election was stolen. This consequence will continue to divide Americans and eat away at the fabric of our society for years to come. The FCC cannot look away and pretend that nothing happened. It did. And what happened mattered—a lot!
REPEATED PRESENTATION OF FALSE NEWS
In a 130-page opinion (supported by voluminous record evidence) in the Dominion case[1] Judge Davis found that the Murdochs/Fox repeatedly made false statements—the lies about the 2020 election referenced above. Never in the 89-year history of the FCC has the Commission been confronted with a broadcast license renewal application by an applicant recently found by a Court to have repeatedly made material misrepresentations concerning the election process and the outcome of a presidential election. If the character requirement of the Communications Act means anything, it surely must mean not repeatedly making false statements concerning issues of the highest public importance. Allowing Fox to go unpunished will set a dangerous precedent, especially as we enter a new presidential election cycle in 2024.
NOT ABOUT POLITICS
This proceeding is non-partisan and not about politics. A majority of the former FCC and Murdoch/Fox officials/counsel in our group of Informal Commenters are longtime Republicans (a few recently changed their registration to unaffiliated). And they all—Republicans and Democrats—stepped forward and volunteered to join in this effort based on principle and conviction—not politics.
MISREPRESENTATIONS
This proceeding is about knowing and material misrepresentations. Fox misrepresented the facts of the 2020 election to their viewers, misrepresented to the FCC the facts about WTXF’s compliance with the FCC’s political file rules (stubbornly insisting that WTXF timely filed all contracts when many were not filed until after the commercial schedules had run, defeating the purpose of the Rules), and their supporters have engaged in “scare tactic” misrepresentations about the possible consequences to viewers in Philadelphia of a loss of WTXF’s FCC license.
Leaders of the partisan Koch-funded organization[2], Americans for Prosperity published an opinion piece in the Delaware Valley Journal falsely claiming that the Fox 29 licensing proceeding threatened viewer access to telecasts of Sunday afternoon Eagles NFL games.[3] The story falsely asserted that “failing to renew Fox 29’s license would also deprive Philadelphians of the Eagles’ Sunday games.” As explained in the attached affidavit of former Senior NFL Official Frank Hawkins, this assertion is simply not true. Members of our group have heard the same inaccurate concern expressed by key Congressional staff who declined to reveal who gave them that false impression. An FCC hearing will shed much needed light on all these misrepresentations.
CONNECTIONS BETWEEN MURDOCHS/FOX, FOX NEWS CHANNEL AND WTXF
The Murdochs/Fox try to argue that actions by Fox News Channel are not relevant to determining the eligibility of the Murdochs/Fox for renewal of their FCC license for WTXF. That is simply incorrect.
First, the Murdochs own a controlling interest in Fox Corporation. Fox Television Stations is 100% owned by Fox Corporation. The Murdochs/Fox are the applicant for renewal of the FCC license for WTXF—they are the real party in interest, the party that is in a position to actually or potentially control operations of Fox 29 and Fox’s 28 other FCC-licensed stations.[4] In fact, they stand in exactly the same relationship to the station as they do to Fox News Channel, where Rupert Murdoch acknowledged under oath that he had the power and authority to stop the election lies, but didn’t.
Fox News Channel also is 100% owned by Fox Corporation and produces a weekly program, “Fox News Sunday”, that is broadcast by WTXF. Fox News Channel also produces and distributes to WTXF daily national and international news stories for inclusion, at the station’s option, in WTXF locally produced newscasts.
Under well-established Commission precedent, all actions by a broadcast license renewal applicant—in this case the Murdochs/Fox—and their various subsidiaries are relevant to evaluating their character. In fact, in a 2013 Media Bureau decision involving a Fox Broadcast Station and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the FCC reiterated that “actions of a licensee’s parent or of affiliated companies” are relevant in reaching Broadcast licensing decisions.[5]
REQUEST FOR DOCUMENTS
The Murdochs/Fox have been required to produce voluminous internal documents relating to false statements Fox made concerning the outcome of the 2020 election in the Dominion and Smartmatic litigations and in response to at least four shareholder derivative lawsuits against Fox and its board including the Murdochs. Those documents obviously are relevant to the issues in this proceeding, already have been digitized, and can be produced by the Murdochs/Fox with almost no effort or burden. To properly evaluate the issues raised in this proceeding, the Commission must grant the Petitioners’ motion and require the Murdochs/Fox to produce those documents to the Commission and to the Petitioners. Not requiring the production of those documents would be tantamount to looking the other way.
NARROW AND LIMITED PRECEDENT
Designating the WTXF application for a hearing would establish only an extremely narrow and limited precedent—namely, that a hearing is appropriate when a broadcast license renewal applicant was found by a court to repeatedly have made false statements and those statements were so insidious and harmful as to “shock the conscience”. Prior to the Murdochs/Fox there has not been one single such case in the 89-year history of the FCC and there is no reason to believe that there ever will be another to which this precedent could apply. Specifically, designating a hearing for WTXF would NOT establish a precedent that could be used by a future FCC (or a President) to threaten the license of a Broadcaster with whose views the FCC (or the President) disagree! As Chris Wallace noted when he left Fox News Channel, opinion of all sorts is fine, but “…when people start to question the truth – Who won the 2020 election? Was January 6 an insurrection—I find that unsustainable.”[6] That is the bright line of distinction between this situation and potential viewpoint-based challenges, and it is an easy one for the Commission to articulate and follow.
THE COMMISSION WILL HAVE MANY OPTIONS AFTER A HEARING
Designating the WTXF application for a hearing is the essential first step. Because of the seriousness of the matter, it is critical that the FCC develop a full record of the facts and motives concerning Fox’s false election narrative. After that, the Commission will have a wide range of options. It could conclude, as it has in other cases, that it is not in the public interest to renew the Murdochs/Fox license for WTXF. Or it could conclude that the record in the hearing justifies renewing the license. Or, it could pursue a middle ground as it has done in other cases, for example a short-term renewal. The point is that the Commission will have many options.
CONCLUSION
Because of the Dominion record evidence (internal Murdoch/Fox emails and texts) the whole world watched the Murdochs/Fox acknowledge the truth that the 2020 election was not stolen, debate the cost in viewers and revenues of reporting that truth to their viewers and make a business decision to lie to them instead. The whole world also watched the tragic consequences of that business decision. Judge Davis called them out on it. The question is what the Commission will do.
From CNN: “Fox’s Reporting Fail: On one of the busiest travel days of the year, with the country in a heightened security stance as millions hit the road and air ahead of Thanksgiving, Fox News recklessly smashed the panic button and stoked fear from coast-to-coast. In the early afternoon, the right-wing network went live with a dramatic report from correspondent Alexis McAdams. McAdams declared that there had just been an “attempted terrorist attack” at the international bridge connecting the U.S. and Canada in Niagara Falls, breathlessly reporting that a “car full of explosives” had exploded at a border checkpoint. That report was placed atop Fox News’ highly trafficked website and sent as a push alert to millions of phones via its app. The network went all in on it, even baselessly speculating on air about Islamic terrorist groups. It was careless — and it was wrong.
As it turns out, there was no car full of explosives. And there was no attempted terrorist attack. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said there had been “no indication” of any such thing. Fox News had made a massive error. The type of error that should have given network brass and the reporters involved a giant pit in their stomach. But unlike respected news organizations that acknowledge when mistakes are made, Fox News has refused to issue a correction. Instead, the network stealth edited its online story, with no editors’ note of any sort. And McAdams went on air, blaming her sources for bad initial information while refusing to accept any responsibility herself for the significant error.
Of course, while McAdams should have acted more responsibly, the entire episode underscores the lack of basic editorial standards at Fox News. Correspondents at news networks are not permitted to run to air with high-stakes reporting based on anonymous sourcing without vetting from senior personnel. And if the inaccurate reporting did somehow slip through the cracks, the network would immediately move to correct it. It was bad that Fox News screamed terrorism in a case where none had occurred. But the network did have an opportunity to own its mistake and be transparent with its audience. It failed on that too.
President Biden says the House Republicans that want to shut down the government are not doing their job. True! But the same is true of every other legislator in the House and Senate. There are no angels in this fight. The Congressional Appropriations process is broken and needs to be fixed.
The only specific responsibility of the Congress mandated by the Constitution is to fund the government. Both Houses of Congress and both parties are failing to properly fulfill this responsibility. Each year Congress is supposed to pass, through regular order, 12 Appropriations Bills before the beginning of the next fiscal year. This process, if followed, allows for robust debate on the individual spending items in each bill. But, as in many prior years, with the start of fiscal 2024 approaching, Congress has passed exactly ZERO of those individual Appropriations Bills.
And so, again as in many prior years, Congress is about to kick-the-can-down-the-road and pass a series of Continuing Resolutions. These Resolutions do not permit robust debate over the merits of most individual spending items. Then, just before the end of the calendar year, Congress will pass an “Omnibus Spending Bill”. This monstrosity will be thousands of pages long. It will not allow for debate on individual spending items. And it will be passed with only a handful of Leaders and Staff having any idea what is in it. It is so huge that most Senators and Congresspersons will not even be able to read it before voting.
Worse yet, these Omnibus Bills become a must pass “Christmas Tree” into which lobbyists will have found a friendly Appropriator to insert legislative provisions with only the most strained and tangential relationship to funding the government. Virtually every lobbyist in D.C. has tried this ploy – I know that I did! And many succeed.
So, I totally agree that it is wrong to shut down the government. Full Stop. Butthe GOP hardliners have a legitimate point. The current process is no way to run the government.
So, what to do? We voters should elect only candidates who agree to (1) insist on passage of all 12 Appropriations Bills each year and (2) agree to support a substantial Congressional pay cut (pick a %) in any year that Congress fails to do so.
For what little it may, or may not, be worth at this point, Preston Padden, Ken Solomon and Bill Reyner wish to express their deep disappointment for helping to give birth to Fox Broadcasting Company and Fox Television that came to include Fox News Channel — the channel that prominently includes news that, in the words of Sidney Powell’s counsel, “no reasonable person would believe.”
How many people can recall, even fathom today, that we were brought up in an entertainment world that offered only three choice of video programming — programming that ABC, CBS and NBC chose and that you could only watch when the networks offered it?
In the 1990’s Bill was lead outside Counsel for NewsCorp/Fox/Rupert Murdoch (“Fox”) and Preston was their lead Washington Lobbyist. Ken was Executive VP of Network Distribution for Fox Broadcasting Company. There was no Fox News Channel on the horizon at the time, and none of us ever worked for that Channel.
With the help of others, Bill and Preston tenaciously defended Fox from attacks alleging Fox’s failure to comply with the foreign ownership restrictions of the Communications Act of 1934, and we obtained for Fox waivers of the FCC’s rules including the Financial Interest and Syndication Rule (“FISR”) and the Broadcast/Newspaper Cross-Ownership Rule. Eventually, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit confirmed the elimination of the FISR Rule. All of these waivers were critical in enabling Fox to become the long-sought fourth broadcast television network. Out of the ashes of antiquated rules, we were able to help Fox acquire more mass with the acquisition of essential large market VHF television stations and important rights to broadcast NFL games throughout the country.
Ken was instrumental in strengthening the lineup of local broadcast stations affiliated with the new Fox Network. He prepared powerful presentations that persuaded established affiliates of ABC, CBS and NBC to switch to Fox. His efforts were critical to enabling the viability of Fox.
At the time of our work in the 1990’s, we all greatly admired Rupert Murdoch and his vision and bold efforts. We genuinely believed that the creation of a fourth competitive force in broadcast television was in the public interest. Many others thought so also as our waiver requests and other actions on behalf of Fox garnered the support of Democrat and Republican FCC Commissioners and diverse political leaders such as New York Governor Mario Cuomo and Senator Ted Kennedy. Indeed, the development of Fox Broadcasting Company broke the hold that the Big 3 Networks had on US households and opened the gates to unlimited competition for many new sources of programming.
We never envisioned, and would not knowingly have enabled, the disinformation machine that, in our opinion, Fox has become. In a 120 page Court Order, backed by extensive record evidence including voluminous emails from inside Fox, the Judge in the Dominion case found that Fox repeatedly presented false news. Fox did not appeal the decision but instead acknowledged it and paid nearly $800 million in damages to Dominion.
In our opinion, the Fox News Channel has had many negative impacts on our society. Arguably the worst has been Fox’s role in promoting Trump’s “Big Lie” about alleged widespread fraud in the 2020 election and, in our opinion, Fox’s role in contributing to the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol that undermined our democracy. In fact, the connection between Fox and the January 6 attack is so strong that multiple Jan 6 defendants have pleaded not guilty arguing they were suffering from “Foxitis” — a disease caused by watching false news on Fox!
Through months long email exchanges in 2020 and 2021, Preston gained first-hand knowledge of Rupert Murdoch’s thinking about former President Trump and alleged fraud in the 2020 election. Murdoch made it very clear to Preston that he understood that the 2020 election had not been stolen. Nonetheless, during the same time period, Fox continued to perpetuate the “Big Lie” and promote the Jan 6 “Stop the Steal” rally in D.C.
Many other veterans of the historic effort in the 1990’s to break the strangle hold of the Big 3 Networks and to build a fourth competitive force in American television share our resentment that the reputation of the Fox brand we helped to build has been ruined by false news.
We are about to find out whether power or the law is paramount in the United States.
At stake is the local TV empire of Fox Broadcasting and the Federal Communications Act, which requires a character assessment to hold the license to operate a station.
Fox owns 29 TV stations in 14 of the top 15 TV markets in the nation. Each one of these stations is an extremely valuable business, required to operate in the public interest as a condition for the FCC license which allows transmission through the public airwaves.
The Fox-owned station in Philadelphia is up for license renewal. A volunteer citizens group called the Media and Democracy Project is challenging the license over the character clause.
The broadcast license challenge comes from misconduct by sister company Fox News in the mostly unregulated world of cable television. Specifically the $787 million settlement between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems for Fox’s false reporting alleging programs in the voting machines produced bogus results which made Joe Biden President of the United States.
Discovery in the civil suit against Fox News makes it clear the cable network knew there was no evidence to support these claims but spread them anyway out of fear of losing their audience to other networks even more receptive to the conspiracy thinking.
The top brass at Fox News and Fox Broadcasting are the same, Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan.
The unsubstantiated claims on Fox, allowed by the Murdochs, helped inspire the assault on the Capitol Jan. 6, 2021, as thousands of MAGA faithful gathered to “stop the steal” and keep Congress from certifying election results.
If the long-established law behind the FCC character clause has any validity, it must be enforced against Fox Broadcasting where internal documents from the cable news side of the corporation shows that profit comes before truth or the national interest.
Based solely on the facts and the law, Fox does not deserve a license to own a broadcast station.
If the FCC grants license renewals to a station owner that has knowingly and repeatedly reported false news shown to incite violent insurrection against the government, there is no longer any standard of character required by law.
Fox has grown rich and powerful as the network of conservative America and the politicians they support. Applying the law to Fox will be disputed as a political act rather than an unquestioned outcome driven by fact.
For those who would make America great again, the best way to start is by placing standards based in law ahead of financial and political power.
Fox News paid the $787 million judgment like it was pocket change. The FCC character challenge against Fox Broadcast would administer a more significant lesson about the abuse of a public trust and the government-licensed use of the public airwaves.
Should the FCC Review Fox’s “Character” Qualifications to Remain A Broadcast Licensee?
As Tucker Carlson said almost nightly on his Fox News show, “I’m just asking the question”!
I was a Fox executive from 1990 to 1997 helping to build Fox Broadcasting Company (“FBC”), the long sought fourth free-over-the-air commercial TV network. I successfully secured for Fox, and its principal Rupert Murdoch, waivers of numerous laws and regulations necessary/helpful to launch FBC. My colleagues and I were proud to build FBC and a new brand in television – FOX, a brand with integrity that stood for competition and innovation (like showing viewers the scrimmage line electronically in NFL broadcasts). In my time at Fox I greatly admired Rupert whose vision and boldness made our good work possible.
In addition to FBC, Fox owns cable channels like Fox News Channel (“FNC”) and 28 local broadcast TV stations. The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has almost no regulatory authority over cable channels like FNC but heavily regulates local broadcast stations that use public airwaves.
Section 308 (b) of the Communications Act requires the FCC to assess the character qualifications of parties licensed to broadcast on the public airwaves. The FCC considers conduct at the broadcast station and elsewhere. The FCC has revoked broadcast licenses based on character issues.
On March 31, 2023, Judge Davis of the Superior Court of Delaware, in the Dominion case, issued a written Order finding that Fox repeatedly presented false news – “news distortion” in FCC parlance – about the 2020 election on FNC. Judge Davis’s Order states:
“The evidence developed in this civil proceeding demonstrates that it is CRYSTAL clear that none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true. Therefore, the Court will grant summary judgment in favor of Dominion on the element of falsity”. Emphasis in original.
Fox did not appeal this decision. In fact, it issued a Statement in which it acknowledged the Judge’s ruling.
The record before Judge Davis is full of evidence that Fox management and FNC personalities knew that the 2020 election had not been stolen but were worried that if they told the truth it would alienate their core viewers. In my opinion, that means that the false news was presented knowingly.
In a month’s long series of email exchanges, I tried to get Rupert to stop the false news on FNC. Without my knowledge, Fox produced those emails as part of discovery in the Dominion case. I would not otherwise share them here.
On January 5, without a clue what would happen the next day, I sent Rupert the following email:
“It would be a great service to the Country that I know you love, and to the party, to record and saturate a spot with Sean, Tucker, Laura, etc. saying something like: “We will never stop fighting for Freedom and the American way of life and against extreme liberal policies. While we are frustrated just like you are, the facts are that President Trump and his lawyers have not produced any evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the fact that Joe Biden was elected President on November 3. All of us at Fox will work tirelessly for you and to serve as a watchdog on the Biden Administration. Meanwhile, please wear a mask and get vaccinated so that we can crush the virus.”
I knew from earlier email exchanges that Rupert did not believe that the election had been stolen. This was his response:
“I’ll think about it. Perhaps something like that in a few days!”
From the finding below in Judge Davis’ Order we know that Rupert followed up on my suggestion on the same day:
‘On January 5, 2021, Rupert Murdoch emailed Ms. Scott [CEO of FNC] that it was suggested the “prime time three should independently or together say something like ‘the election is over and Joe Biden won’. Ms. Scott forwarded it to Ms. Cooper and said “I told Rupert privately they are all there – we need to be careful about using the shows and pissing off the viewers but they know how to navigate”.
To my knowledge, no such statement ever was telecast.
The same senior management including Rupert and his Son Lachlan, oversee both FNC and the Fox Owned television stations – they call the shots. FNC produces a weekly program, “Fox News Sunday” that is broadcast by the Fox Owned Television Stations. FNC also provides national and international news coverage to the Fox Owned television stations.
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 January 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 Brokow (and their bosses Bill Paley, Tom Murphy and Jack Welch) knowingly and repeatedly presenting false news? It simply is unimaginable.
So, the question arises, 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 Exec VP of The Walt Disney Company
Fighting for the right of consumers to pay for only the cable channels they want, former Conservative Republican Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain repeatedly asked, ‘Why should the little old lady living on Social Security in Gila Bend, AZ have to pay an extra $7 a month because ESPN (that she never watches) is a mandatory part of her cable bundle?’ His tireless Republican advocacy for competition, consumer choice and lower prices for Cable and Telecomm services was shared by other former great Republican Communications Policy Leaders like Billy Tauzin who waged a courageous one-person floor fight to give satellite TV services access to leading cable channels. [Full disclosure, working for Disney/ESPN at the time I lobbied against Senator McCain on cable consumer choice. I was no more principled then than are other industry lobbyists today.]
In FCC nominee Gigi Sohn’s lifelong advocacy for competition, consumer choice and lower prices, there is the unmistakable echo of these former great Republican Communications Policy Leaders. And yet, at her third confirmation hearing, some (not all) of today’s Senate Commerce Committee Republicans sounded like they were aligning themselves with Cable/Telecom industry giants instead of with consumers. And at other times they harped on extraneous issues completely unrelated to the mission of the FCC.
The FCC needs Gigi Sohn. And her advocacy for competition, consumer choice and lower prices bears the unmistakable echo of great Conservative Republican Leaders of Communications Policy. The Senate should confirm her without delay.
Colorado’s New Housing Boom Meets The Water Crisis
A recent Denver Gazette article highlighted the urgency of our water crisis – “The Water Wars Of The West Have Begun” February 4, 2023. Colorado – in fact the entire West – is in a water crisis. Local Governments are imposing water restrictions on current residents. “Aurora water department warns of drought projections, need for restrictions”, Denver Gazette, February 6, 2023.
Colorado Attorney General Weiser has announced that he is not afraid to sue other States for using more than their legal share of water from the Colorado River. New York Hedge Funds are buying up our water rights hoping to turn our water scarcity into a “Trillion Dollar opportunity”. CBS News, January 31, 2023, “New York Investors Snapping Up Colorado River Water Rights, Betting Big On An Increasingly Scarce Resource”.
In an ominous sign of what could happen to current residents of Colorado, the NY Times reports that a community of $500,000 homes on the border of Scottsdale, AZ just was told that Scottsdale can no longer supply them with water. They can’t shower, wash dishes or flush commodes. Their homes are unlivable.
At the same time, local governments throughout Colorado continue to approve Hundreds of Thousands of new homes – homes that will need water – water that we don’t have. Eastern Boulder Country where my wife and I live is an example. A marketing brochure for a new retail development on the Lafayette/Erie border touts 59,000 new homes in the pipeline just in our little area – 59,000 new homes! Multiply that many times over to get a sense of what is happening throughout Colorado.
Some local governments argue that they make residential developers identify “new” sources of water for their developments. But this argument is specious. First, there are no “new” sources of water. Our water supply is finite. Second, if those “new” sources of water were not earmarked for new homes, those “new” sources would be available to serve existing residents.
There are powerful forces that want to keep approving an endless stream of new homes – developers, builders and Local Governments (who like the impact fees they collect).
But continued Local Government approval of Hundreds of Thousands of new homes is not sustainable in the face of our water crisis. It is imperative that Colorado Local Governments pause the approval of new homes. Your ability to shower, wash dishes, flush your commode – live a normal life, depends on it.”
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-0411
Via E-Mail to Committee Staff
Chair Cantwell, Ranking Member Cruz and Members of the Committee:
I respectfully request that this letter be included in the record of the hearing that will be held on the nomination of Gigi Sohn to be a Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission. Ms. Sohn’s politics are to the left of mine, but she is a superbly qualified and experienced nominee who should be confirmed as soon as possible.
I have the greatest respect for this Committee and its Members before whom I have testified many times as President of the ABC Television Network, a founding executive of the Fox Broadcasting Company and as the head of Government Relations for both News Corporation/Fox (Murdoch) and The Walt Disney Company. I fear that this esteemed Committee, like Ms. Sohn, is in danger of falling victim to the worst, and most cynical and baseless smear campaign ever waged against a nominee to serve on the FCC. Ms. Sohn’s only sin is that she roots for the underdog and for consumers. As a result, some of the dominant Cable TV companies and Internet Service Providers have stooped to lows never before seen to smear Ms. Sohn. They correctly fear that she would be a vote to require them to compete fairly and to respect consumers.
Ms. Sohn’s opponents have planted article after article alleging that she is against Native Americans, against Hispanics, against rural communities, against police and that she is connected with illicit sex workers. It’s all rubbish! A total of 375 organizations, companies, elected officials and local governments, including numerous Tribes, Hispanic organizations and public safety officials have voiced their support for Ms. Sohn’s nomination!
The press stories ginned up by Ms. Sohn’s opponents are beneath scurrilous and are beneath the dignity of this Committee. For example, one Daily Mail online story (not a Murdoch publication) began with a picture of Ms. Sohn juxtaposed next to a salacious picture of a sex worker with whom Ms. Sohn has absolutely no connection. This is “Tabloid Trash” at its worst, all brought to you, I believe, by agents of some of the country’s biggest Cable Companies and ISP’s.
I worked for Rupert Murdoch for seven years and secured for him waivers of FCC Rules that stood in the way of the launch of Fox Broadcasting Company – the long sought fourth free-over-the-air TV Network. Recently Mr. Murdoch sent me a note that expressed misgivings about Ms. Sohn’s nomination. I replied by reminding him (actually, he may never have known) that because Ms. Sohn fights for underdogs (which Fox certainly was in its early days), and because she saw the pro-consumer benefits of a fourth network, she was very helpful to our efforts to fend off fierce lobbying attacks from the three established networks and to secure the waivers that we needed. And I advised him that Ms. Sohn’s interest in requiring dominant Cable and ISP “pipe” companies to play fairly could be helpful to a company like his that has important content assets, but no bottleneck “pipes”. Mr. Murdoch responded that he stood corrected in his view of Ms. Sohn.
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