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WEKU
David Folkenflik

A former Fox executive now argues Murdoch is unfit to own TV stations

Media magnate Rupert Murdoch, right, huddles with Preston Padden, president of network distribution for Fox, during a hearing of the Federal Communications Commission in May 1995. A generation later, Padden says Murdoch is unfit to hold the licenses for local television stations due to Fox News. (Kathleen Beall/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Preston Padden joined the Fox broadcast network a few years after its launch and helped founder Rupert Murdoch make it viable. Its ultimate success echoes Murdoch's triumphs around the globe, including in Australia, the U.K., Europe, Latin America and Asia. Fox introduced the world to The Simpsons, COPS, House, computerized first down lines on NFL broadcasts and more. Padden worked for Murdoch as a senior executive for six years in the 1990s.

"At the time, the company motto was 'Fortune favors the brave'," Padden says now. "He was my hero. There was no question in my mind that what we were doing was good for America, good for viewers, good for advertisers, good for television stations, good for democracy."

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