About the Media Barons

The Federal Communications Commission has long been concerned with what Commissioner Nicholas Johnson calls "the media barons"--newspaper publishers who also own local TV and radio stations and thus threaten "the free exchange of information and opinion." Last week, in an unprecedented ruling, the FCC denied renewal of the license of Boston's WHDH-TV, which is owned (along with AM and FM radio stations) by the Herald-Traveler Corp. Taking over the CBS-affiliated channel will be Boston Broadcasters Inc., a consortium of 30 Boston businessmen and Cambridge intellectuals.

Explaining its decision, the 3-to-l FCC majority said that "the widest possible dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources is in the public interest." The philosophy is admirable, of course, but complicated in practice. In many U.S. cities, financially ailing papers only manage to keep publishing because of profitable broadcasting sidelines. The Herald-Traveler is a case in point; in 1967 it gave up its losing afternoon competition with the Boston Evening Globe and concentrated on the morning. But the outcome is still in doubt. Although circulation is climbing, the Herald-Traveler is still lagging behind the Morning Globe by 217,000 to 237,000.

Harold Clancy, president of the Herald-Traveler Corp., which has operated WHDH-TV since it came on the air in 1957, reported himself "shocked but undismayed" by the ruling and expressed confidence that it would be overturned by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Until the court acts, the newspaper will retain control of the station.

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