In an op-ed published to The Daily Beast, former FOX executive Preston Padden is questioning whether the FCC should examine the licenses of stations owned by the network after the conduct of Rupert Murdoch and other Fox Corp. executives in the Dominion Voting Systems scandal.
Padden worked as the President of Telecommunications and Television for the FOX Broadcasting Network from 1990 to 1997. He shared that he continues to have a relationship with Murdoch, and messaged the Fox Corp. founder on January 5th, 2021 to encourage him to push the fact that Donald Trump had failed to prove any election fraud before the 2020 election was to be certified the next day.
He continued by suggesting that the FCC has previously “revoked broadcast licenses based on character issues”, and argued that the opinion of Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis that it is “crystal clear” that Fox News aired false statements after the 2020 presidential election that stations owned by FOX would fall under the category of “character issues”.
“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,” argued Padden.
“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.”
