MAD Says Fox Station Violated Public File Rules
Fox Television Stations didn’t properly maintain WTXF-TV Philadelphia’s online public file and then misrepresented whether it had done so, said the Media and Democracy Project in a letter to the FCC Monday. MAD conceded in the letter that online public…
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file violations aren’t typically a basis for license renewals to be designated for hearing but said they are relevant when considered alongside the other allegations raised against parent company Fox. “Material misrepresentations however minor add to the disqualifying grounds already set forth,” said the letter. MAD argued that political advertising contracts were uploaded to the file late -- in some case after the ads had aired -- and said FTS misrepresented those contracts as inquiries to bolster its contention the filings weren’t late. MAD also took aim at FTS arguments that technical difficulties with the online public file affected filing times. The FCC and numerous attorneys have experienced issues with the agency’s filing systems throughout 2023 (see 2306200063), but FTS didn’t adequately document such a problem, MAD said. “If FTS truly was unable to timely file political contracts due to technical difficulties, it should have included the details in its renewal application,” MAD said. “FTS did none of this and is now offering post hoc excuses to justify its repeated failure.” Fox didn’t comment.