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January 16, 2025

FCC dismisses 2023 petition against FOX29's license renewal, saying it's 'at odds with the First Amendment'

The agency also rejected a complaint against 6ABC over 2024 election coverage that allegedly favored Kamala Harris.

Media FOX 29
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The FCC has rejected a petition that sought to deny FOX29's broadcast license renewal over 2020 election coverage by its parent company FOX.

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday rejected the 2023 petition seeking to deny FOX29's broadcast license renewal over its parent company's promotion of falsehoods about fraud in the 2020 election. The government agency also dismissed a complaint against Philly's 6ABC that claimed the station favored Vice President Kamala Harris in its 2024 election coverage.

Jessica Rosenworcel, the outgoing Democratic chairwoman of the FCC, announced these moves — which also included dismissing complaints from groups aligned with President-elect Donald Trump against two local New York stations — in a statement Thursday. In doing so, she said she had "directed the FCC to take a stand on behalf of the First Amendment."


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"It may seem quaint to draw attention like this to broadcast licenses, in an era when so many of us seek out information we want, when we want it, from where we want it, on any screen handy," Rosenworcel wrote. "But these stations remain a vital source of local and national news. And there is nothing antiquated about the idea that the FCC has a duty to respect the Constitution."

The broadcast license for FOX29, which is WTXF-TV, was purchased by FOX Television Stations in 1995 and was set to expire in August 2023. During the renewal process, the FCC allows petitions, thought it has not denied any license renewals in decades. The Media and Democracy Project, a nonpartisan volunteer group, along with several former FOX executives and an ex-FCC official, filed a petition in July 2023 hoping to hold FOX accountable for "its broadcasting of knowingly false narratives about the 2020 (presidential) election" on the FOX News Channel. 

The FCC does not regulate cable networks like the FOX News, but it does oversee over-the-air broadcast stations like FOX29. The petition alleged that a "good deal of that narrative" was also broadcast on FOX29 and FOX's other TV stations. "FOX News Sunday" is the only FOX News program that FOX29 airs, but the petition notes that many "leading proponents of the false election fraud claims" have appeared on the program.

The FCC made the uncommon move to invite the public to comment on the petition in August 2023. 

At the time, lawyers for FOX wrote in a statement, "(FOX29's) service should be encouraged, not threatened by baseless license renewal challenges. ... The Commission should signal its support for exemplary local news and public service by promptly dismissing the pending Petition to Deny and granting the Station’s pending license renewal application."

The complaint against 6ABC was filed in September by the conservative Center for American Rights and accused WPVI-TV of "news distortion" and favoring Harris during the station's broadcast of the presidential debate on Sept. 10. The other two complaints, also filed by the Center for American Rights, accused New York-based WCBS of editing an interview with Harris, and accused New York City's WNBC of featuring Harris on "Saturday Night Live" without giving Trump equal time.

"The facts and legal circumstances in each of these cases are different," Rosenworcel wrote. "But what they share is that they seek to weaponize the licensing authority of the FCC in a way that is fundamentally at odds with the First Amendment. To do so would set a dangerous precedent. That is why we reject it here."


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