Modern Media Mogul

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I very much enjoyed and learned from your cover story on News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch [July 9]. He has transcended the temptation to use his acquisitions to promote his personal ideology. Instead, he appears to have sought a balance by creating a powerful and profitable media dialogue that feeds on its own contrary products. Thank you for reporting this story.
Art Drexler, SAN DIEGO

During my college days in India, one of my professors recognized my talent in journalism and encouraged me to work someday for the Wall Street Journal. Whenever I read about Murdoch's ambitious efforts to possess the most respected financial journal in the world, I see a sharp media baron. Murdoch's previous takeovers — of the New York Post and MySpace — have been very successful. A man who started with just one newspaper is now a media tycoon with a $68 billion company. He is an inspiration to mass-communication students like me.
Raghvendra Singh, WARRENSBURG, MISSOURI, U.S.

I did not need to read the cover story on Murdoch. All I needed to see was the boldface quote "On Fox News, do we put on things that favor the right? ... I don't know. I don't think we do. Aw, it's subjective." These are the words of a media titan? It seems to me that he struggled with a question that would have been a great gag line on late-night talk shows.
Rob Kinnaird, RIDGEFIELD, CONNECTICUT, U.S.

A Superhero for Sudan
It's been said that man's inhumanity to man is not hatred but indifference [July 9]. Thank God for people like France's Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, who bring the genocide and horrors of Darfur to the forefront. Men and women like him are the true superheroes of our universe.
Ray Westbrook, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.

Untapped Potential
While it is fascinating to see touch-screen technology used in the iPhone and other devices [July 9], a part of the population is greeting it with much distress: people who are blind. Equipping appliances such as microwaves and washing machines — not to mention voting machines — with touch screens will cause a "one step forward, two steps back" situation. If designers can figure out a way to not leave the blind behind, we can truly celebrate the technology of touch.
Thomas J. Murphy, BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, U.S.

This technology has potential applications for online learning. To use a present-day computer, you have to learn how to use a keyboard and mouse, which may be hard for those who have little or no experience typing. But with touch screens, people will be able to send handwritten messages to children and receive hand-painted pictures in reply.
Masatoshi Nishikawa, TOKYO

The Cultures in Cuisines
Your cover story provided a wonderful bird's-eye view of what people consume on different continents [June 25--July 2]. It is informative and indeed a pleasure to read. With the advent of Western fast food and its onslaught in developing countries, the middle classes all over the world have been influenced to devour more and more less-than-palatable food that has little nutritional value. And overeating results in unwelcome and dreadful obesity. We must be most careful in what we choose to eat. The bottom line is, eat simply and eat little. That is the road to good health and longevity.
Tan Boon Tee, CHUKAI, MALAYSIA

Superpower's Burden
RE Peter Beinart's "America's Foreign Policy Trap" [June 25--July 2]: Is there a need for the U.S. to continue performing its "duty" as the world's only policeman? I suggest a definite no as the answer. For several decades, the U.S. has unwittingly poked its nose in every corner of the world, especially where it is considered to be strategically essential for national, economic or political advantage. The U.S. is placing itself in an awkward and unenviable position, inviting not only the displeasure of the weaker nations but also the discomfort of the stronger powers. Aside from burning through billions of dollars on overseas military deployment, the U.S. has lost thousands of its troops in often futile and wasteful attempts to champion democracy and exterminate terrorism in other countries. What an unusually steep price to pay! The U.S. ought to begin to be more inward looking and put its house in good order first.
Munn-Zie Chaan, HONG KONG

Charting Peace
Thanks for finding a way to print the Global Peace Index of 121 countries in order of peacefulness [June 18]. Other reports I have read gave the positions of only a few countries. There must be many international readers, like myself in country No. 42, who were satisfied to see the whole list.
Sheila M. Case, GABORONE, BOTSWANA

Beating the IEDs
I wince with horror and sadness every time I read about how the U.S. and coalition soldiers are getting killed or badly hurt by the roadside bombs of Iraqi insurgents [June 25--July 2]. I hope the U.S. military, which has always been known to be very creative and enterprising against equally enterprising enemies, will solve the problem of improvised explosive devices (IEDS). Has the U.S. military looked into the idea of putting up a network of sensors to detect concealed weapons and contraband at airports? Has it considered using remote-controlled humvees and trucks as decoys when on patrol — or the use of escort convoys? And what about developing detection systems that make use of America's advanced infrared technology, to spot and take out IEDS on the highways? The troops have been taking heavy casualties on the road lately, but it seems they have persisted in running convoys the old, conventional-warfare way. New tactics won't stop roadside bombings, but they should keep casualties to a minimum.
Frankie Lacambra, LAS PINAS CITY, THE PHILIPPINES

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
In the June 25--July 2 article on the launch of the over-the-counter weight-loss drug Alli, we mentioned the distribution of free pedometers. They were part of a limited promotion related to the launch of the drug, however, and they are no longer available.