As Justice Byron White put it in 1969, “It is the right of the viewers and listeners, not the right of broadcasters, which is paramount.” To protect these rights, the government forced Rupert Murdoch to sell the Boston Herald in 1994 before it would allow him to buy back the Fox affiliate in town. And it blocked the Graham family rival, Joe Allbritton, from owning both the Washington Star and a local television affiliate.
