This Week in the Media
October 29 - 8 November

Each week McSpotlight will be updated on how the world's press has covered McLibel, McDonald's and multinationals in general.


INFECTED CHILDREN TO SUE OVER LETHAL FOOD BUG

The Independent; UK
4th December 1996
[Piece on the e.coli story in Britain. See also: E.coli 0157 Food Poisoning in England Press Release from the legal representatives of those affected]



Helen et Dave contre Ronald McDonald's

Péo Chanez
Planete Internet; France

Deux activistes londoniens s'attaquent au géant du Big Mac. McDonald's les traîne en justice pour diffamation. Et les mailles du réseau mondial s'en font l'écho. Le procès-marathon doit s'achever en 1997. Un procès politique.

Les textes, photos et illustrations contenus dans cette page sont la propriété exclusive du magazine Planète Internet et de leurs auteurs. Toutes les marques citées sont déposées par leurs propriétaires respectifs.

CNet
November, Europe / USA
[CNET carried a small piece on McSpotlight during November. It was covered with a number of other sites that concentrate on corporations and companies.]

Britain's Big 'McLibel Trial' (It's McEndless, Too)
By SARAH LYALL

Oregonia
LONDON, November 28

Even after two grueling, often grindingly tedious years, the case popularly known as the McLibel trial is very much a study in extremes. On one side of an ancient London courtroom sits Richard Rampton, a bewigged libel lawyer for the McDonald's Corporation, ubiquitous purveyor of McNuggets, McRibs and McChicken sandwiches. On the other side sit two dressed-down vegetarians: Dave Morris, an unemployed postman, and Helen Steel, a part-time bartender.

On Nov. 1, the case, in which McDonald's is suing Ms. Steel and Mr. Morris for libel, reached its 292d day and achieved the dubious distinction of becoming the longest trial in British history. It is important not only for McDonald's, which says it is fighting for its reputation, but also for a loose international network of self-proclaimed libertarians, union organizers, vegetarians, environmentalists and animal rights campaigners who have seen the enemy and decided that it is McDonald's.

The trouble began in the 1980's, when Mr. Morris and Ms. Steel were sometime members of London Greenpeace, a group that describes itself as an informal, non-hierarchical collective of people who campaign for a range of social issues. (It is separate from the international Greenpeace movement.) In 1989 and 1990, the group distributed a pamphlet, "What's Wrong With McDonald's," which accused McDonald's of, among other things, promoting poor nutrition, exploiting children through advertising, encouraging litter, mistreating animals and workers, and destroying rain forests.

Unamused, McDonald's sued Ms. Steel, Mr. Morris and three other members of London Greenpeace for libel. The three others apologized and promised never to do it again. But Mr. Morris, now 42, and Ms. Steel, 31, vowed to fight back in court.

"We didn't feel we had a choice," Ms. Steel said. "What was there to apologize for? It's McDonald's who should be apologizing to the public for the damage they cause to society and the environment."

Mike Love, the head of communications for McDonald's U.K., said the company did not have a choice, either. "Going to court was very much a last resort," he said. "The purpose of this trial is to protect the company's reputation."

For the defendants, McLibel has been an uphill battle. Because they cannot afford lawyers, they are representing themselves. Because immediate transcripts of the trial cost about $560 a day, they wait three weeks until the price drops to $32. And since they spend all their free time reading McLibel-related documents, they have to hold strategy meetings in the subway, as they travel to and from the courthouse.

So far, the case has generated 40,000 pages of documents, 30,000 pages of transcripts and headaches for everyone concerned, including the judge, who spends much of his time explaining the fine points of law to the defendants. The defendants, too, are wearing out.

"It's like day and night working on the case, more or less," Ms. Steel said. "We haven't had a lot of time for anything else."

Under Britain's strict libel laws, the burden is on the defendants to establish that their allegedly libelous statements are true. In this case, Mr. Morris and Ms. Steel are faced with the daunting task of proving every far-reaching charge in the original anti-McDonald's pamphet. The effort has resulted in a parade of some 180 witnesses testifying on everything from the effects of used coffee cups on landfills to whether a Big Mac, fries and a shake constitute a nutritious meal.

McDonald's has countered all their claims, bringing in its top executives to testify to the company's integrity and responsibility. Meanwhile, the McLibel Two, as they are called, have become folk heroes to thousands of people around the world who are following the case on the Internet, where a much-expanded version of the pamphlet that McDonald's objected to in the first place is circulating.

"McDonald's is an icon for people who are campaigning against corporations who put profits above anything else," said Jessy Graham, a spokeswoman for McSpotlight, an anti-McDonald's web site that she says has been "visited" by computer operators four million times since February.

The Internet campaign has volunteers in 25 countries, including, in Craftsbury, Vt., a 50-year-old piano repairman named David Briars who says he wants to "oppose a-human entities that are obviously ruining our world."

"There are a lot of people who sit around vegetating in front of the television set who love McDonald's and think it's part of American life," said Mr. Briars, who maintains a large anti-McDonald's electronic mailing list and has himself become a vegetarian since the trial began. "But some people are starting to think, 'Maybe they have a little too much influence on our children'."

The trial is creaking on. In court this week, Ms. Steel and Mr. Morris are in the fifth week of summing up their defense. McDonalds's lawyers will follow, and then the presiding judge, who ruled early on that the facts would be too complicated for a jury to follow, will make the final decision.

Legal experts, even those sympathetic to the anti-McDonald's position, say that things don't look too promising for the McLibel Two. However, the defendants are holding firm.

"We feel we've already won, because McDonald's whole purpose in bringing this case was to try to intimidate its critics into silence," Ms. Steel said, "and they haven't done that."


GRAPHIC: Photos: After accusing McDonald's of a host of misdeeds against humanity and the environment, David Morris and Helen Steel were sued for libel. (Jonathan Player for The New York Times); An illustration from the brochure behind the "McLibel" suit.



Children's Weekend Television
November 1996, UK
[Capt Sensible (the musician) was wearing an anti-McD's badge on a Saturday morning children's TV show in recent weeks.]



Last Week in the Media

9 November - 25 November - McSpoltight Webbing the Barricades in Wired; Union Slams McDonald's Practices[Press Release from GMB]

29 October - 8 November - McLibel in Time magazine
18 October - 28 October - USA Today Special McLibel Case Nears End.
10 October - 17 October - Squall details McDonald's nefarious links with Police intelligence units.
3 October - 9 October - Viz and McDonald's; McMunchies and McLibel trial becomes the longest civil case in British history - Guiness Book of Records
26 September - 2 October - How we met, Helen Steel and Dave Morris, in the Independent.
19 September - 25 September - Big Mac Chews Out Little Mrs Munchie.
12 Septmeber - 18 September - Adopt-A-Store and SLAPPS.
22 August - 11 September - Mark Thomas' regular site to hang out: McSpotlight.
7 August - 21August - Big Mac in big trouble over late openings.
18 July - 6 August - Last year, 96% of Americans ate at McDonald's; more than half the American population lives within a three-minute drive of a McDonald's...
4 July - 17 July - How corporations are "flame-broiled" on the Net.
27 June - 3 July - The second anniversary of the McLibel Trial is celebrated in style.
20 June - 26 June - Squall reveals how McDonald's is "gobbling the rainforests".
13 June - 19 June - The New Statesman runs a very positive article on McSpotlight
30 May - 12 June - McDonald's 'used police sources' in McLibel case, reports the Independent
23 May - 29 May -
Red Pepper exposes Japanese racist myths about 'healthy' McDonald's food
16 May - 22 May -
A quiet week: 'An American Cowboy in London' profiles McLibel witness Howard Lyman
9 May - 15 May -
'McMyths about McJobs': Strange Spectator article defends low-paid work for young people
2 May - 8 May -
Busy week, with McLibel featured on satirical TV show and analysis of McDonald's stranglehold over the UK
24 April - 1 May -
Highlight of the week: George Monbiot's Guardian on the absurdities of Britain's libel laws
16 April - 23 April -
Howard Lyman causes a storm on the Oprah Winfrey Show when Oprah pledges to give up burgers
5 April - 15 April -
A quiet week, but with interesting legal analysis from Legal Action
16 March - 4 April -
The BSE in beef crisis explodes, the media is saturated with McDonald's decision to ban British beef
9 March - 15 March -
Sensational five-page colour feature in the UK's Guardian Weekend on the McLibel Trial and McSpotlight
2 March - 8 March -
The world's press takes an interest in McSpotlight - articles in USA Today, Observer and Legal Action
24 February - 1 March -
Lots of mentions for McLibel. McSpotlight makes 'Global Hero' for March 1996
17 - 23 February -
Great headlines, media people: 'Big Mac's Critics Connect On Line', 'Burger Giant Under McSpotlight'...
11 - 16 February -
Our first week - not much press. Little did they know...

Other This Weeks

This Week in Court

This Week's Campaigning

This Week at McDonald's

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