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 [1] 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 [2] 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 [2], 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 [2] 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 [3] 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 [4] 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 [5] "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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