Media Ownership Is in Too Few Hands

Missing from James Flanagan’s column, “Visual Media: the Big Picture” (Sept. 8), was even a hint of concern over the unprecedented concentration of media control in a handful of mostly foreign companies.

Hollywood “artists” may congratulate themselves that they ultimately determine the content of the media, but how much creative control does a painter really have when his expenses are paid and his paints, brushes, canvas and even the art gallery are owned by a distant corporate giant pursuing its own agenda?

Once upon a time, movie studios were forced to unload their theater chains because of antitrust considerations. Today, it doesn’t seem to bother anyone that the same Japanese company that makes the VCR also owns the movie cassettes that feed it.

It’s unclear to me why concern over monopolistic abuses should disappear simply because the screen has been moved from the corner cinema into our living rooms and the mogul’s office has been moved from Hollywood to Tokyo.

G. R. LEWIS

Tarzana