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Is Rupert Murdoch "Lovin' It?" McDonald's Corp. Responds to Rumors of a Corporate Policy to Exclusively Air FOX News

Submitted by meg on Tue, 08/05/2008 - 3:01pm.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Meg White

Update 5:00 p.m. CDT: McDonald's Corp. got back to us two hours after our stated deadline.  Danya Proud, spokesperson for McDonald's USA, said that while there is no corporate policy that she knows of regarding in-restaurant television programming, the company does "require all of its restaurants to show appropriate content," which she defined as news and/or McDonald's-generated programming such as advertising.

Proud also said that there could be a regional or franchisee-specific policy regarding programming, which she would look into for me, so stay tuned for updates!

Rumors began circulating around several news Web sites and blogs yesterday that McDonald's has a policy to exclusively play FOX News on its in-restaurant televisions. Apparently, someone who called in to a program on C-SPAN said he had gone to a McDonald's in Missouri and asked them to change the channel from FOX to something else. Workers there refused, saying they weren't allowed to change the channel due to corporate policy. The caller said he then spoke with a regional director.  An e-mail written by a C-SPAN watcher who goes by "Libby" said that the caller said that the regional director told him the policy was due to "bad things on other channels."  

A post on Daily Kos said this about the encounter:

"McDonald's was in the process of installing wide screen TVs in all of their restaurants over the entire five-state region, and that the 'FOX News only policy' was corporate policy for all McDonald's restaurants in the region. The director also stated that the reason for this policy was that McDonald's had determined that there is less violence on FOX News than any other channel."

After hearing about the rumor, attorney William Betz of New York wrote an e-mail to the restaurant's corporate offices. Here is an excerpt of his e-mail:

"For your information, it is no secret that FOX is a right-wing political propaganda machine that is now and has been for years actively campaigning for the Republican Party and against the Democratic Party.  It is the 'baddest' of the 'bad things.'  This political activity on the part of McDonald's is entirely unacceptable -- although it would certainly be normal in the former USSR and present-day China and other totalitarian countries.  As a lawyer and citizen who is very concerned about political propaganda being used directly and subliminally by a political party or its outlets, including, apparently, McDonald's, I am outraged at this report.  Please either confirm or deny that it is true.  If it is, it's certainly a firm basis for a nationwide, indeed worldwide, consumer boycott of your company.  I await your reply." 

He said he received a "form letter" e-mail in response from McDonald's customer service department saying that the issue will be "investigated" and that appropriate actions will be taken to ameliorate the situation. 

"It's like I'm complaining about a worm in a hamburger," Betz said of the McDonald's response in a phone interview with BuzzFlash today.

BuzzFlash attempted to get an answer from the communications office at McDonald's. After repeated telephone conversations and e-mails, McDonald's Corp. did not provide an answer to our questions about in-restaurant television policy or about the veracity of the story being circulated online. 

As we've reported before, McDonald's seemingly has few qualms about cozying up to news organizations. Recently, they've begun placing their products on the desks of local anchors during newscasts in Las Vegas, and plan to do so elsewhere around the country. 

McDonald's is certainly less partisan than FOX News. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, McDonald's was hit with a boycott from a prominent organization in the religious right. But by following the money, one can see where the true sympathies of McDonald's Corp. lie.

According to the FEC, McDonald's PAC has donated at least $191,000 to the House and Senate Republican re-election committees in the past 10 years. In 1998, the PAC donated $2,500 directly to Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain's senatorial campaign. No contributions were found from the McDonald's PAC to Sen. Barack Obama or to Democratic Congressional re-election committees for the same period. 

As for employees of McDonald's, both major party candidates for president got attention. McCain has received $15,250 and Obama $12,540 from McDonald's employees since the beginning of 2007. Of the 19 different donations to Obama from McDonald's employees, the average amount was $660. McCain got a smaller amount of heftier donations, with the average amount given to McCain by McDonald's employees at well over $2,000.

That may not seem like a lot for the world's largest fast food company, which annually spends more than $1 billion on advertising alone. However, if these contributions are combined with a promise to air only what the non-partisan group Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting calls "the most biased name in news" with an "extraordinary right-wing tilt" in a swing state in an election year, well, that sounds to us like an "in kind" contribution worth more than any amount they've contributed to specific candidates so far.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

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Fox News at McDonalds

Submitted by jwstl on Mon, 09/15/2008 - 1:59pm.
I have suspected something was afoot. We have been traveling between St. Louis, Mo and Wichita, KS for the past few years and, sometimes, McDonalds is the only option. During this time, we have noticed that the McDonalds with televisions were always tuned to FOX. This weekend we stopped at a McDonalds, and I decided to ask an employee if they could change the station. She came back and, apologetically, told us that she could not. So, if it's McDonald's policy to only broadcast appropriate TV content, I'm sure the little kiddies and their parents got an earful from the recent interview with Ernest Borgnine on Fox and Friends when he said that masturbation was his key to looking young. Or how about when Bill O'Reilly interviews and ogles female adult film stars or repeatedly makes factually inaccurate statements? And if the "bad things on other stations" are murder, kidnapping, sexual abuse/assaults, and if Fox is a news station, don't they also cover these things? So what is really the “bad content” that McDonalds is avoiding when they only broadcast FOX? It's like a scary futurist movie where one face/one voice is blaring on all TVs and filling the air waves with propaganda. Murdoch controls FOX and the Wall Street Journal, and now McDonalds(?). What next? I guess FOX with the help of McDonalds feels the need to infiltrate the little ones’ minds with rubbish while they are still young. If McDonalds is going to have TV's, shouldn’t it be more kid-appropriate broadcasting like Disney Channel, Nickelodeon or PBS. Looks like it’s time to write McDonalds Corp., as well as family and friends and boycott McDonalds.
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Fox News at restaurants

Submitted by M. Davey on Thu, 08/07/2008 - 5:45pm.
My favorite restaurant has Headline News on. I don't complain about their "obvious bias". My doctor's office has on CNN sometimes. They usually rotate all day between channels. When I get mad is when they have on Oprah or a soap opera or "The View". If anyone doesn't want to watch what's on, don't. You can never hear the sound anyway, and there's never "closed captioning", so what's your beef? Can you lip-read? If you're deaf, you might be able to. If I were to watch a channel such as CNN or MSNBC and substitute the word Democrat for Republican and Their name in place of Fox or "Faux" and some clever and witty people do, then it would be just the same result. Each channel that has people who are giving their opinion always slant it to get their point across. If they're news readers, they read what's given to them on the prompter or on a page. If they're pundits, it's strictly what they think. Change the channel if you don't agree, look away, eat your burger, or salad. The liberals never go on Fox to defend anything. The liberals that matter, anyway. Senator Obama wemt on and it went well, Senator Clinton went on and her interview went well. Former President Clinton, "our First Black President" went on Fox and was a rude little snot because someone asked him a question that he didn't like. If you'll all think about this, you know that he would never be made mad on any of the other networks because they fawn all over him. Good grief, grow up people! We're about to have the REAL, "First Black President" and I do hope that the conservatives do not call him an idiot and a slacker and a liar, like they have President Bush. You may think this about the president, but it is just bad manners, people, to act like a whiny kid on the school yard calling names.
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Fox News at restaurants

Submitted by M. Davey on Thu, 08/07/2008 - 5:45pm.
My favorite restaurant has Headline News on. I don't complain about their "obvious bias". My doctor's office has on CNN sometimes. They usually rotate all day between channels. When I get mad is when they have on Oprah or a soap opera or "The View". If anyone doesn't want to watch what's on, don't. You can never hear the sound anyway, and there's never "closed captioning", so what's your beef? Can you lip-read? If you're deaf, you might be able to. If I were to watch a channel such as CNN or MSNBC and substitute the word Democrat for Republican and Their name in place of Fox or "Faux" and some clever and witty people do, then it would be just the same result. Each channel that has people who are giving their opinion always slant it to get their point across. If they're news readers, they read what's given to them on the prompter or on a page. If they're pundits, it's strictly what they think. Change the channel if you don't agree, look away, eat your burger, or salad. The liberals never go on Fox to defend anything. The liberals that matter, anyway. Senator Obama wemt on and it went well, Senator Clinton went on and her interview went well. Former President Clinton, "our First Black President" went on Fox and was a rude little snot because someone asked him a question that he didn't like. If you'll all think about this, you know that he would never be made mad on any of the other networks because they fawn all over him. Good grief, grow up people! We're about to have the REAL, "First Black President" and I do hope that the conservatives do not call him an idiot and a slacker and a liar, like they have President Bush. You may think this about the president, but it is just bad manners, people, to act like a whiny kid on the school yard calling names.
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Not That I Eat There........

Submitted by kroses98 on Wed, 08/06/2008 - 10:37am.
But I know some who do. I think we can call an organized boycott, anyway, and advertise it wherever we go. It is not good business for them. When ever I go to an establishment that has FOX news on in its waiting room, I complain loudly and clearly. I do not let it go by. We need to speak up. ALL OF US!!! FOX IS NOT THE NEWS. IT IS RIGHT WING PROPAGANDA!!!!!!!!!
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Sams Club and faux "news"

Submitted by kjlovell on Wed, 08/06/2008 - 1:49pm.
The sams clubs here in OK and TX all have their TV's glued to faux "news"....I did ask about it, and was told by the mgr in OK that it was a corporate rule that the tv's be on faux. When I requested corporate contact info, it was refused. The evil blue empire is not content with destroying towns any longer, it has moved its sticky fingers into our brains as well.
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What is this, the Soviet Union in the sixties?

Submitted by abmabardy on Wed, 08/06/2008 - 6:30pm.
How can they refuse to give you corporate contact information? Perhaps you can find that info online. Democrats must not underestimate the power of FAUX News to brainwash and indoctrinate people too tired or too apathetic to seek out the truth.
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Who actually eats inside a McDonald's anyway?

Submitted by ERW on Wed, 08/06/2008 - 8:58am.
I don't eat McDonalds. Seldom do I eat anything from a "fast food" restaurant. Most people I know who do buy junk food, use the drive-thru. I'm surprised they even have tv inside. Giving one network any kind of "exclusive" programming rights is in and of itself a dangerous thing. Shouldn't happen. I can't think of a more sickening combo, than a Big Mac, fries, and O'Rielly. What are they thinking?
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Not that we eat there all that much,

Submitted by bettysdad on Wed, 08/06/2008 - 2:54am.
but it shouldn't be hard to organize a major boycott, and stock sell-off.
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Mc Barf and pukey fox "news"

Submitted by willymack on Wed, 08/06/2008 - 12:35am.
Has a nice ring to it. Gut rot and mind rot all in the same place. Only in 'murika.
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Seems appropriate to me...

Submitted by TJAmericanWay on Tue, 08/05/2008 - 10:58pm.
Swill for your body, and now swill for your mind. How fitting, now all the sheeple can enjoy the likes of Billious O' Really and Bush Limpblow along with their clown food.

"You deserve a break today, so get out and stay away from McDonalds, They do it all to you..."
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Warning, McDonalds is bad for your health....

Submitted by kjlovell on Tue, 08/05/2008 - 8:18pm.
We've known for quite sometime that mcdonalds is bad for your physical body.... but now we find that it will make your brain less active, fatter, and more likely to explode, just as their food will do to your heart. Perhaps the surgeon general should place warnings on the companies signage in front of all locations. WARNING: The surgeon general has determined that viewing any programming in this restaurant is likely to have great mental consequences to you and your unborn child. It has also been determined that consumption of programming or eating of this food can be hazardous to your physical and mental health.
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Huh?

Submitted by vtjozef on Tue, 08/05/2008 - 7:52pm.
Progressives are eating at McDonald's? C'mon folks. The fix isn't that McDonald's only airs the Right wing stuff in their so-called restaurants. The fix is that Republicans and Democrats are part of one large Corporate Party whose operating paradigm is offering the public the illusion of an electoral choice. Who cares who McDonald's airs on the TV in their burger manufacturing establishments. Anyone staying there long enough to suck in both burgers and boogers has a problem bigger than the One Party System With Two Heads. And oh, haven't we noticed Obama's "right wing tilt" as of late? Run Ralph. Run!
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I cannot believe how hard it is to post a comment

Submitted by ElleninBigD on Tue, 08/05/2008 - 7:40pm.
or anything on their website. They don't want feedback, unless it's positive. Kind of like Townhall.com and all those other wacky whackers.
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I quit eating there....

Submitted by mike1001 on Tue, 08/05/2008 - 7:00pm.
....years ago, because of the calorie-laden edible food-like substances they serve that will eventually kill you. Looks like the environment inside Mickey D's' is about to become the equivalent of their food---an environment resembling reality, but having only a tenuous connection to it. Like Mark Knopfler wrote: "It's dog eat dog and rat eat rat, Kroc style, just like that."
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WRITE / EMAIL to stop Murdoch Mind Manipulation

Submitted by abmabardy on Tue, 08/05/2008 - 6:32pm.
McD's of course has the right to air whatever it chooses, and we all have the right to choose not to patronize them. Do they really want to lose the business of at least HALF the country? I think not. Murdoch is intent on buying up ALL the media in this country in order to control elections. FAUX is the premiere propoganda arm of the neocons, and it is skillfully used to manipulate the minds of those with too little energy or too little time to dig for the truth. I will contact everyone I know (hundreds) and they will do the same (thousands). Here is the corporate mailing address: McDonald’s Corporation 2111 McDonald's Dr Oak Brook, IL 60523 The online link is suddenly "not working" (i.e. shut down) http://www.mcdonalds.com/contact/contact_us/other_areas/other_area_form.html
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deebee Feelin' mighty

Submitted by deebee on Tue, 08/05/2008 - 5:25pm.
deebee Feelin' mighty 1984ish. McChannel's----over 32,000,000 McMinds swerved !
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so many restaurants.... so little time.. did somebody say McCain

Submitted by codypup on Tue, 08/05/2008 - 4:35pm.
PRETTY SIMPLE FOR ME..... there are several FAST FOOD places to eat...... and "just like church" i don't need to attend the one that preaches bad shit to me I DONT SHOP AT CIRCUIT CITY.... THEY LAID OFF TOO MANY MEDIUM PAID WORKERS FOR CHEAP REPLACEMENTS I DONT SHOP AT WALMART.... WHAT CAN YOU SAY THERE.... IT IS THE EASIEST THING IN THE WORLD TO REPLACE MCDONALDS ON MY LIST OF FAST FOOD... ...i am not a puppet for John THE BUSH REPUBLICAN McCain !!!!
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