Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Wednesday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

“The best moment of last night’s triple-OT Blackhawks win didn’t even count,” Barry Petchesky writes for Deadspin.
“Andrew Shaw’s headbutt goal in the second overtime was waved off, quite possibly for being too awesome to process at 1 in the morning.”


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McDonald’s vs. The Media
“McDonald’s has been accused of ‘trying to hide from public scrutiny’ by banning the media from this week’s shareholder meeting, which staff have promised to gatecrash with the biggest ever protest demanding an end to ‘poverty wages’ paid to many of its 420,000 staff,” the Guardian reports.

When the Guardian asked McDonald’s for permission to report from the meeting at its headquarters in Chicago on Thursday, the newspaper was told its reporters would be prevented from entering. “We will not be hosting media inside the meeting,” a McDonald’s spokeswoman, Heidi Baker, said. “Media are invited to listen to the meeting via webcast.”
The company has previously banned media from attending the event. Barker confirmed that [new CEO Steve] Easterbrook was involved in the decision to continue the ban, a highly unusual move at a major listed company. Easterbrook declined to comment and failed to respond when asked directly on Twitter.
Barker denied that McDonald’s was banning the media to try to avoid reporting of the low-wage protest, and said it was because “our priority is to accommodate our valued shareholders.”

Heidi Barker, you are Today’s Worst Person In Chicago.

However, shareholders contacted by the Guardian said transparency at McDonald’s was vital and inviting the media would allow more small shareholders to be able to learn about what happened in the meeting. Last year 101 protesters were arrested and part of McDonald’s sprawling Chicago campus was forced to close.

To be clear, McDonald’s headquarters is in Oak Brook.

[The AFL-CIO’s Vineeta] Anand said McDonald’s suggestion that there would not be room to accommodate the media was “the lamest of lame excuses.” “How many press were they expecting and how many investors?” she said. “If it’s a question of hundreds of people, maybe they should rent a bigger room, and if they can’t afford that, it is pretty pathetic.”

But not as pathetic as the new Hamburglar.

Timothy Smith, director of governance and shareholder engagement at Walden Asset Management, which holds $21m of McDonald’s shares, said: “Obviously many companies would like to keep such controversies under wraps. Since McDonald’s proudly declares it believes it must be accountable to consumers, employees and the public as well as shareholders, it is surprising that they wish to hold their annual meeting in secret without press allowed to observe.”

I don’t find it surprising at all. This is America, and the last thing we need is a bunch of reporters snooping around.
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But not inspiring enough, apparently!
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Easterbrook is off to a rough start.
“Steve Easterbrook, the McDonald’s CEO, delivered a video statement to the business community and McDonald’s franchisees around the world recently,” Nick Morgan writes for Forbes.
“The result is a classic example of how not to do it. His performance is spectacularly awful on a number of levels. CEOs and communications people everywhere should watch the video as an object lesson in bad communications.
“According to Mashable, the stock dipped approximately 1% once the video came out – so this statement literally cost McDonald’s millions.”
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Clown Show
Nick, The Cubs Threw Out Your Grandma’s Personalized Brick.
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Fantasy Fix: The Bryce Is Right
Most improved – and most valuable.
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TweetWood


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Every. Single. Time.
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Unlocked.

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Posted on May 20, 2015