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FEBRUARY 16, 2004
How Biased Is Rupert's News World? Apparently the authors of "Rupert's world" (Media, European Edition, and Asian Edition Cover Story, Jan. 26) couldn't resist the opportunity to color their description of Fox News. A statement such as "there's little doubt that he has made Fox News a soapbox for a collection of shrill, right-of-center commentators like Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity" just reinforces the truth of Bernard Goldberg's points about the arrogance and left-leaning bias of the Establishment media. To write that the network is "jingoistic" in its coverage of the Iraq war is a "liberal" opinion, not a fact. Ironically, without empire-builders such as Rupert Murdoch, we would have fewer points of view and more media control of information. Edward A. Porter Scituate, Mass. Editor's note: What BusinessWeek said was, "Coverage on Fox and in the New York Post during the Iraq war was widely criticized for being outright jingoistic and for eschewing the usual journalistic distance." Paul O'Neill And The Meaning Of Loyalty Regarding Ciro Scotti's review of The Price of Loyalty ("Mr. O'Neill goes to Washington," Books, Jan. 26): I would like to add a further thought regarding the value of the book. In situations where ideas are central to the effectiveness of an organization, the development of processes to ensure that the ideas being worked with are the best possible is absolutely essential. Whatever the political interpretations of Paul O'Neill's memoirs might be, the book certainly emphasizes the importance of the role of processes for superior idea development and execution. Loyalty then becomes best defined by a commitment to the integrity of the idea processes, rather than allegiance to an individual. In fact, the individual is best served as a leader when the idea processes are protected from threats to their integrity. William A. Fischer IMD Lausanne, Switzerland   Germany Can No Longer Afford To Be Milked Re "Breaking the Franco-German grip" (European Business, Jan. 26): First of all, no one has a grip on the European Union. That is exactly why it is drifting into a twilight zone with the help of the U.S., and especially Britain and Spain, which see nothing wrong in collecting totally unjustified agricultural subsidies and rebates at the expense of Germany. Germany is no longer the economic powerhouse it used to be and thus can longer afford to be the cow to be milked. I fully agree that Germany needs to get its house in order, but so does the EU, and many other countries, including Spain. Rolf Klotzbucher Braunschweig, Germany Where Are The Jobs? Don't Ask An Economist Michael J. Mandel was heading in the right direction when he zoomed past the real reason jobs have not reappeared ("So where are the jobs?" News: The United States, Jan. 26). The foundation of economic theory is that capital is fixed, and labor is mobile. In this century, the opposite is true, especially since September 11. Capital can zip around the world in a nanosecond. Those venture capitalists Mandel is counting on are not giving the homeland any kind of priority. Meanwhile, try getting a job in Europe if you're American, or in the U.S. if you're Brazilian. It's not going to happen. That means all the outcomes predicted by current economic theory must be wrong. And a Nobel Prize awaits the theorist of the new reality. Those jobs aren't coming back until something major changes that gives the U.S. a competitive advantage that attracts capital. David Wineberg New York
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