Big Update in Our Case Against Fox and the Murdochs

It has been three years since the Media and Democracy Project filed a Petition to Deny Fox Television Stations’ renewal of a local TV station license in an effort to hold Fox and its owners accountable for knowingly broadcasting lies to the American people about the 2020 election results. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr has been using the relicensure process as a partisan weapon against other TV networks, and has prevented action on (and mischaracterized) our petition. We are not giving up. The stakes are too important. This partisan handling of FCC cases is un-American and unacceptable. On July 14, 2026, MAD filed a Writ of Mandamus with the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia requesting that the FCC be forced to act on our unreasonably delayed filing or permit discovery into the reasons the Commission has delayed action.

We will keep you updated on our progress and here is the press release with more info:

Filing commemorates the three-year anniversary of original Petition to Deny, as the group accuses Carr of playing “hide the ball” with the courts to shield Fox from review.

WASHINGTON, D.C. | July 14, 2026 — The Media and Democracy Project (MAD) today filed a petition for a writ of mandamus in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit seeking to compel the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to act on the group’s long-pending Application for Review of the Media Bureau’s dismissal of MAD’s Petition to Deny the license renewal of Fox-owned television station WTXF in Philadelphia. The filing marks the three-year anniversary of MAD’s original Petition to Deny. MAD argues that Chairman Brendan Carr has unlawfully refused to bring the matter before the full Commission, preventing the organization from obtaining judicial review, while simultaneously expediting similar proceedings that serve President Trump’s political interests.”The FCC cannot indefinitely hide behind bureau decisions and ignore our Application for Review to prevent the courts from reexamining its actions,” said Milo Vassallo, executive director and co-founder of the Media and Democracy Project. “Chairman Carr has ignored a petition supported by extensive judicial findings while weaponizing the FCC against major broadcast networks because they present programming that displeases the President. Carr has acted when it serves his political interests, and we are asking the court to compel the FCC to fulfill its statutory obligation so we can ask the court to review the merits of our petition.”

MAD originally filed its Petition to Deny in July 2023, arguing that Fox Corporation’s broadcast license should be reviewed under the Communications Act’s longstanding character requirements following judicial findings in the Dominion Voting Systems litigation that Fox disseminated false claims about the 2020 presidential election. After the FCC’s Media Bureau dismissed the petition, MAD filed an Application for Review by the full Commission in February 2025. In her final days, Chair Rosenworcel consolidated MAD’s petition and complaints against ABC, CBS, and NBC into a single docket, yet Chairman Carr has treated “alike” matters very differently. Seventeen months later, the Commission has taken no action on the Application for Review.

The mandamus petition argues that the delay is particularly troubling because the FCC quickly reinstated complaints against ABC, CBS, and NBC after Chairman Carr took office while allowing the Fox proceeding to languish. The group contends that the Commission’s refusal to act has effectively prevented judicial review by denying MAD access to a final Commission order.

“MAD’s filing today is a big step toward the day when an objective tribunal will get to decide whether a judicial finding that a party repeatedly lied to the American people about the result of a presidential election is consistent with the character requirement of the Communications Act, not because the Murdochs and Fox believed those lies, but solely for profit,” said Preston Padden, former Fox Broadcasting executive. “Chairman Carr has engaged in a concerted campaign to hide the ball from the appellate courts, and that illegal shell game must stop.”

The mandamus petition does not ask the Court to decide the merits of MAD’s original Petition to Deny. Instead, it seeks to compel a full Commission vote on the Media Bureau’s dismissal of MAD’s petition, allowing MAD to obtain final agency action and have its day in court.

A copy of the writ of mandamus is available here.

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