TV May Offer Minority Faces but Not Voices

In an interesting article on the German media giant Bertelsmann (“Silent Giant,” Nov. 19), Mary Williams Walsh says: “Such goings-on [the ever-expanding corporate power and wealth] worry Germany’s media watchdogs, who think excessive media concentration in Germany--as in America--may one day shut out minority voices and ultimately undermine democracy.”

Outside of an occasional letter to the editor in newspapers, where can one rely on finding these other perspectives? Even the so-called “alternative media” are either owned [by] or a mirror of the mainstream. Television may offer minority and women faces-- but they’re not the alternative voices .

And the notion that we live in a functioning democracy is passe. The demise has and is dramatically impacted by the growing concentration of information and its homogenization in the hands of a few individuals and media monopolies --from Murdoch to Turner, from Disney to Bertelsmann.

ANDY KAY LIBERMAN

West Hollywood