Jane Martinson (Improve the world we live in, the departing Rupert Murdoch urged staff today. So why didn’t he?, 21 September) asks if there is anyone who can honestly say that Rupert Murdoch improved the world around us. In fact, he made three vital contributions. First, by rescuing the Times newspapers he preserved media plurality. Second, by defeating the print unions, he enabled newspapers, including those on the left, to cut their overheads, giving them a better chance of surviving the transition to online. Finally, he widely expanded choice in television with Sky, which brought with it a respected news channel.
Far from creating a society where the powerful can “dictate the wants and desires of people’s lives”, Murdoch has always opposed the way monopolists try to limit us.
Alex Singleton
Reading, Berkshire
• One of the most apt commentaries on Rupert Murdoch came from the dramatist Dennis Potter, who, when diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 1994, named his tumour Rupert.
Richard Ehrlich
London
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