Could Feds Yanks Broadcast Rights from Fox News?

[aggiesal]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by maddezmom (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: GOPUSA

Big Brother is watching, and in particular, he's watching over Fox News. Apparently left wingers are constantly complaining to shut down the network, and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is listening, saying in recent congressional testimony that complaints about Fox are taken "very seriously."

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski testified Wednesday that his agency takes calls to cancel Fox's broadcast licenses "very seriously."

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Read more: http://www.gopusa.com/freshink/2012/05/10/fcc-fox-licenses/?subscriber=1

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These are OUR airwaves. They belong to us.
To be able to get a license to use our airwaves, broadcasters
should be mandated that they not broadcast mis-information.

With all the mis-information that Fox News pumps out everyday,
I'm wondering why its taken this long to yank their license.

Hope it happens soon. Tomorrow isn't fast enough.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. The First Amendment allows them to broadcast their crap

and that's the way it should be.

The remedy for bad speech is more speech, not suppression.

[SoutherDem]

4. Yes it is their right

The fact that so many people listen and believe them is the issue not their right to broadcast.

[Meiko]

6. Well said

today the FCC is silencing them, tomorrow they are silencing you. I am not saying that broadcasters should not be held to a certain standard but when you start banning certain groups it's a road we don't want to go down.. IMHO.

[aggiesal]

7. I have no problem with free speech.

But they should not be entitled to use OUR airwaves to blatantly lie.
This is a gross mistrust of the license.

[20score]

9. I'm with you on the free speech thing. But there are issues of false advertising,

lies and what label should be applied.

The FCC does have an extremely important roll to play with regard to information provided to the public. It's not hyperbole to say in a democracy the public needs correct information in order to make correct decisions. Fox does not give correct information by any objective standard, therefore they should not be allowed to be labeled, 'news.'

It's entertainment, at best. (Insulting, moronic and sadistic entertainment, but it's not news.)

[Malikshah]

20. Do not call it news then. I'm no expert but as a "news" channel they may have

special leeway. Strip them of their "news" credentials/press credentials, and go from there.

This is not a free speech issue; it is about journalistic integrity. As a News channel, I would assume they have to adhere to specific criteria.

As they aren't, then require that they are re categorized.

[firehorse]

2. FCC can come down on the usage of "news". They have a public obligation to report news not lies.

The Murdoch empire keeps collapsing.

[alfredo]

5. If they find News Corp to be a criminal enterprise, couldn't that affect their license?

[FailureToCommunicate]

3. Not just "left wingers" but most in the 'reality based community' see thru FOX

Or refuse to see it at all!

[aggiesal]

10. Yes, but the problem is . . .

Fox doesn't charge any of the cable or satellite companies to broadcast their garbage,
because their media empire can cover any loses from not charging for Fox.

While CNN, MSNBC, CurTV . . . charge, thus making the cable and satellite companies pass
the charges onto the consumer.

Also, Fox signs agreements with places like McDonalds and Hotel chains to broadcast
their channel exclusively.

It's hard to get away from these $OB's

[Brooklyn Dame]

8. I'll believe it when I see it...

...and seeing the collapse of that horribly destructive and divisive network would be a cause for celebration.

http://borderlessnewsandviews.com/2011/09/a-fox-news-haiku/

http://borderlessnewsandviews.com/2012/04/rumor-has-it/

[DavidDvorkin]

11. They could, but they won't.

[WCGreen]

12. I don't know for sure what the FCC could do...

As long as the cable company doesn't broadcast say MS NBC or CNN, then there really isn't all that much they can do about it.

They could look over the license when it is up for review, but those are yanked very rarely if ever these days.

[Turbineguy]

13. Right now Fox

with their crap and lies is the Democratic Party's best friend.

[abelenkpe]

14. They should be fining FOX for lies

And use anti trust laws to break up fox and all large media corporations

[virgogal]

15. Kind of a slippery slope IMHO. Ignoring them is the best way.

[24601]

16. Politically, it would be a very stupid thing to do and would be seen (accurately) as trying to

silence the administration's critics. As popular as FDR was, when he tried to pack the USSC, he was raked over the coals.

And if it was successful (which I believe it would not), what's to stop the next administration from using the precedent to bump off MSNBC.

And from a technical perspective, does FNC even broadcast a signal, or do you have to have to have cable/FIOS/DISH, etc to pick them up? Didn't Howard Stern get around the decency regulations by going off RF broadcast?

Edit for spelling

[aggiesal]

18. MSNBC does not use airwaves ...

They only use cable.

They could go after NBS though.

[stupidicus]

17. maybe, but simpy lying won't be the grounds

for which they do it

this has always been one of the main reasons why I've scoffed at rightwingnuts scoffing at lefty sources on news items, and promoting the "liberal" media myth. If the corporate owned MSM was truly liberal, neither Fox nor Bush would have survived his reign of error and terror.

http://ceasespin.org/ceasespin_blog/ceasespin_blogger_files/fox_news_gets_okay_to_misinform_public.html

[October]

19. Fox News is not "BROADCAST," as I understand it; they're cable.

That's why they get away with lies and shenanigans, because they are not subject to the Broadcast rules.

[OverBurn]

21. Fox "News" has the 1st amendment freedom to tell lies, but...

they should not be able to call it News. They should be required to announce before each show that this is not real news and they are opinion based programs and not based on fact.

Any program that states it is News should be held to a higher standard, cable or network TV.

[Auntie Bush]

22. I sure hope so. Fox is just a source of propaganda collected illegally...not news source!

[thesquanderer]

23. Broadcast licenses don't include cable

so this doesn't have any impact on Fox "News."

[fishwax]

24. I think that would be Fox TV Stations (those owned by NewsCorp), not Fox News

"News Corp. owns 27 Fox stations in the United States."

[crunch60]

25. The problem is much of the MSM have been hijacked by the right wing

propaganda machine. They are paid very well for spewing out lies and inciting violence and hatred between our diverse cultures. Divide and Conquer.
We need many more liberal voices on our public airways to give balance and choice to what people hear and are exposed to.

If Rupert Murdoch and his ilk go down and take Roger Ailes/Fox with him, so be it. That would be a good thing.

[onenote]

26. Can the FCC revoke Fox's broadcast licenses? Theoretically yes. Realistically no.

The argument being made by those advocating pulling the Fox licenses is the requirement that broadcast licensees have "good character" and that violations of law committed by News Corp. in connection with the phone hacking scandal disqualify them from holding US broadcast licenses.

The problem is that the it takes quite a bit to lose a license -- it hardly ever happens and its pretty much inconceivable that it would happen here. The most famous case involving the revocation of broadcast licenses involved RKO General. The case arose out of alleged bribery and other crimes by General Tire, the parent company of RKO General. I worked on this case as a young lawyer in the early 1980s. By that time the case was already over a decade old. ANd in the end, while FCC did rule against RKO, the reason wasn't because of the underlying bribery etc., but rather because, during the case itself RKO demonstrated a lack of candor in statements it made to the FCC about its actions.

So don't hold your breath. And don't read anything -- anything at all -- into the FCC Chairman's statement that the FCC takes the matter "seriously." What do you think he's going to say when being questioned by Senator Lautenberg -- that the FCC doesn't give a crap or that they think its silly? Of course not. Its just empty words.

[maddezmom]

27. locking

Commentary from a RW news source is not Latest Breaking News.