McDonald’s blocks media from attending annual meeting

McDonald’s is not allowing any media to attend its annual meeting this year, reports Hayley Peterson of Business Insider.

Peterson writes, “Amid the mounting pressure, the company has decided to bar reporters from attending the meeting this year.

McDonald’s claims that that it’s excluding press from the event because reporters didn’t show enough interest in attending.

“‘This year, based on direct feedback from reporters and steadily declining media attendance, we are solely inviting media to listen to the meeting via webcast, as for quarterly earnings,’ McDonald’s spokeswoman Lisa McComb told Business Insider. ‘This also levels the playing field for reporters outside of Chicago who do not receive budget approval to travel.’

“But a former McDonald’s executive says the move is more likely a result of the pressure the company is feeling from shareholders, franchisees, and especially workers — who are planning to protest at the meeting in Oakbrook, Illinois.

“‘They are under a lot of pressure,’ said Richard Adams, who worked in the fast food chain’s corporate offices for nearly two decades before starting his own consulting firm for franchisees. ‘They are control freaks. They are trying to control the message by keeping [the press] out.'”