Express Media Group addresses biased and misleading reporting by Dawn about the McDonald's chain in Pakistan.
A file photo of an international McDonald's outlet.
The Express Media Group has strongly refuted a media campaign being run by daily Dawn in its pages over the past year. A statement by the Group issued on Thursday stated that daily Dawn has been running biased and misleading stories about the affairs of the McDonald’s chain in Pakistan for the past year in the guise of “public interest journalism.” Express Group and McDonald’s are sister companies. “25 articles have appeared in a space of one year. Each story is riddled with gross inaccuracies, fabricated information, twisted facts and original fiction. This ‘reporting’ can only be described as malicious and malafide,” said the statement by the Express Media Group, of which The Express Tribune is a part.
Hence, it is now incumbent upon the Express Group to speak out against what can only be described as a witch-hunt. “It is unclear what interest such malicious stories serve Dawn group – but it is of particular interest that the disinformation is being spread deliberately while the matter is before the honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan. Despite McDonald’s having followed every instruction of the Court in letter and spirit, Dawn has continued to claim to the contrary,” adds the statement.
The misreporting against McDonald’s began with an article published on January 3, 2010 under the heading “50 years of Islamabad: failures over shadow achievements.” The article states that the “Establishment of Jinnah Convention Centre and McDonald’s in F9 Park were some of the violations of the master plan”. No violation had occurred, but Dawn passed its judgment.
More baseless allegations followed. The title of the article (in italics), date of publication, allegation levelled (in italics) and the on-ground facts are summarised as follows:
1. “City bosses scramble after SC hard talk”, dated May 14, 2010, “The meeting also took notice of the disappearance of record regarding approval of establishment of the McDonald’s outlet in the Fatima Jinnah Park” – No files / documents regarding the approvals of the project were missing. This false story was planted to create doubts regarding the transparency of approvals.
2. “McDonalds told to fold up”, dated June 9, 2010, “The CDA has leased 6,000 square yards of the park land to Messrs SIZA Food, a franchise of the McDonald’s for 20 years at the rate of Rs317,000 per month.” The article fails to mention that the rent approved was Rs317,250 or five percent, which ever was higher. CDA till the closure of the restaurant was getting approximately Rs900,000 per month (280% higher than the amount
mentioned in the article.)
3. “McDonald’s is outside park, say CDA bosses”, dated June 15, 2010.
“According to a senior official of CDA, SIZA Foods has been paying to the authority Rs0.8 million per month under the lease agreement and has so far earned over Rs570 million since 2006” – daily Dawn crossed all limits of misreporting in its attempt to discredit McDonald’s. – The amount of Rs570 million is sales revenue. This amount is from the sales of burgers, french fries, cokes, ice cream, etc – this is not the income made by McDonalds as reported. Dawn was juggling the numbers to portray that McDonald’s was raking it in while paying CDA only Rs800,000 per month.
4. “CDA to lease McDonalds land again” dated August 28, 2010, “The area under the use of McDonald’s is 6,000 square yards – 1.2 acres covered area and 5.62 acres open space.” The fact is that McDonald’s has covered only 8,800 square feet (980 square yards) out of the leased land area of 6,000 square yards (1.2 acres). This is only 16.33 % of the leased land. The remaining area of 5.26 acres of land was developed by McDonald’s (as part of the lease agreement) as a park for the general use of the citizens of Islamabad at a cost of Rs13,976,315. There is no levy of any fees, and the park is maintained by McDonald’s and not an inch of this area is in the use of McDonald’s. The annual cost of such maintenance is Rs1,020,000.
5. “McDonald’s to make a comeback” dated 29 December 2010. “The city managers on Tuesday paved the way for McDonald’s management to make a comeback in Fatima Jinnah Park by disqualifying two main contestants from the bidding held to again lease out land of the closed fast food chain, sources told Dawn.” Dawn now takes a shot at the reputation of the city managers, insinuating that they are working with McDonald’s to disqualify other main contestants. The fact is that CDA invited Request for Qualification from National and International fast food outlets on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 with the deadline of submission of application as September 15, 2010. This was extended till September 30, 2010. Only three bidders responded, all international food franchises. To encourage more contestants, another Expression of Interest for pre-qualification of local and international food chains was published on Friday, October 29, 2010 with the deadline for receipt of applications as November 23, 2010. The same three and two more applied. These additional two were local companies. Three were qualified – McDonald’s, Dominos and Hanif Rajput. As per rules of prequalification, Rahat Bakery did not qualify as it is only a bakery and Hardees did not qualify as they had less then three years of experience. No rule of prequalification was changed or altered an any manner to disqualify. A totally open and transparent bidding process was followed and after a tough contest of bids, McDonald’s came out as the highest bidder. Daily Dawn is now making its last ditch effort to derail the entire process of transparent bidding.
In the same article it is stated that “Experts say if compared with the price paid by builders of Centaurus, the land of McDonald’s should have been auctioned for over Rs1 Billion.” The fact is that daily Dawn in its articles has continuously written about the Centaurus project of Islamabad and keeps comparing it with the McDonald’s restaurant in F9 Park. In at least foure different articles they have continued to make convoluted comparisons between the value of the space McDonald’s has and the value of the space Centaurus has. To set the record straight, it is important to let everyone know the true figures.
Centaurus is an approximately two million square feet project, consisting of two residential towers of 22 stories each, one office tower of 22 stories, one seven star hotel of 30 stories and a five storey, 550,000 square feet mall. They own the land which is approximately 6.59 acres. Compared to this McDonald’s covered area of the restaurant is approximately 8,800 square feet and all of it on the ground floor and while Centaurus holds the land in perpetuity, McDonald’s is a tenant.
No other newspaper has covered this issue in the libelous and slanderous manner that daily Dawn has and that is of great concern, the statement adds. These malicious reports have been continuously ignored by the management of McDonald’s – giving daily Dawn the benefit of doubt – but it is now seems this gratuitous campaign, which goes against all tenets of journalism, has no end in sight.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2010.
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This is awesome :) Bring Back Mcdonalds to F-9 Park :) We miss it ..Recommend
These sound more like a commercial rather than a piece of “news”. Even if McDonalds and the Express group are sister companies, that shouldn’t mean that the ET becomes the propaganda piece for MD.
You are hurting your own objectivity by using the front page of a national newspaper to further your organizations business interests. Take it too the courts, now all we need now is to have a very public back and forth between the ET and the DAWN that serves neithers interests, other than to gloss over the actual case at hand.
Just to add. two days ago on the Islamabad page there was an article on the opening of a new restaurant in Islamabad, which has a cigar room. Rather than pointing out that indoor smoking or smoking in recreational areas is illegal, the article went on and on about how Islamabad’s elite have a new place to hangout, enjoy imported cigars with none of the “tacky people” to bother them. It was clearly an advertisement camouflaged as a news report…perhaps that too is a sister organization? Recommend
Thats great!! now after politics, newspapers will pull each others legs…good goingRecommend
Here we go! Cheap mud-slinging…Express isn’t an ‘angel’ media group either!…but I honestly I wasn’t expecting this type of journalismm from DAWN.Recommend
Get McDonald out of that park… Recommend
Fight! Fight!Recommend
The service at McDonalds is terrible anyways. So why bother.Recommend
Using your newspapers for launching personal/business campaigns is nothing new in Pakistan. It looks like McDonalds Pakistan is not giving the Dawn its fair share of ad revenue. I guess their guns will be silenced then.Recommend
haha dawn v/s ET!!!Recommend
Woah. so the most educated of people in the prestigious media group(s) resort to same tom foolery as our politicians. Good job!Recommend
How disgusting! Recommend
The picture of MCD is from Midvalley Mall in KL. i wonder if they have rights for that. and being a sister company wouldnt it be easy for ET to get a picture of a local outlet. cant say for sure whether dawn group had some malicious intentions but ET has definitely proved its own…. so vindictive!! Recommend
Well, there are number of things with ET coming out in defence of Siza Foods, the company running the McDonalds.
First over the last one year Dawn has published 25 pieces over McDonlads story and Siza Foods never said a word. Why ET suddenly saw the ghost of ‘misreporting’. If the reporting of Dawn is incorrect, Siza Foods should go to court, especially Supreme Court! It will never because if it is a fact, according to Dawn, that the McDonalds is in the extension part of Blue Area, Siza Foods and CDA will be in trouble….
All in all, the ET has overstepped its limits. Recommend
I trust DAWN over ET anytime of the day.
McDonalds is for cheap dates anyways who caresRecommend
“Three were qualified – McDonald’s, Dominos and Hanif Rajput. As per rules of prequalification, Rahat Bakery did not qualify as it is only a bakery and Hardees did not qualify as they had less then three years of experience.”
The story of Dawn clearly mentions this fact. Here it produce the exact wording from Dawn report.
“Rahat Bakers, one of the main contenders, was told that there was no provision to establish a bakery in place of a fast food in the park. Hardees Fast Food was not allowed to participate in the bidding with a plea that it has less than three years of work experience in the country.”
And it again quoted a CDA official: “We cannot give land to Rahat Bakers for opening a bakery in place of a fast food and to Hardees for less than three years of experience in Pakistan,” he said.
But why is a newspaper defending a commercial venture, even if it is a ‘sister company’. Do we have a band of sisters here? Recommend
With this extraordinary piece, it has been made clear that why the ET has been launched — simply to defend and safeguard the commercial interests of their owners!! Recommend
I do not understand that why Express Tribune is fighting with Dawn over a “BAND KABAB”? Dawn has its own view and Express Tribune has all the right counter the news pubished in DAwn. Both the newspapers should leave it on the readers to judge what is wrong and what is right.Recommend
This is shameful! Why didn’t Express/Lakson write a letter to Dawn? Or sue the for defamation or false reporting? If they are using their pages as a weapon don’t they have a malicious “agenda” too?
Disgusting! Recommend
they should bring up issues which are related to the society instead of fighting …overall i feel dawn news is a bit biased and does not have ppl who in real terms r analyst and there news to an extent can not b trusted..they focus more towrds ther publicityRecommend
All of those people who care about the beauty and the Park of Islamabad should think and listen carefully, I am witness that before the McDonald’s nobody can go at that specific area of the park cuz it was like a dirty jungle and Pigs were roaming around there after maghrib, snakes and other lizards were found there running around openly in that area. I think McDonald’s made a difference, and because of that some other food chains got angry that why McDonald’s gets all the good places like Karachi Airport , Sea View or F-9 Park all the time, so get together with some dirty politicians and some lawyers and sue them. don’t mention that this plot is already marked in site plan for some hotel or restaurant.. push them to the wall and give them a big financial los so they can’t do that again, and get scared to open a new restaurant again..
Shame on those who are supporting them too..Recommend
well i think we should give credit to the management of McDonalds who after waiting for year has now come out to clear the misunderstandings created by dawn. Unfortunately we hardly have any good facitlity of recreation for our families in islamabad. McDonald’s gave us that space and since its forced closure, we have seen nothing that brings the family all together under one roof.
Heck, i along with my platoon of kids and family badly want ths place to reopen again to enjoy!!Recommend
Islamamad has never been so livelier and cheerful before mcdonalds opened its doors here. Come to think of it, this very place where they invested to transform into a beautiful family place was nothing more than a desserted piece of jungle used for all sorts of bad things attached to it. This place, being desserted was a den for addicts, kidnappings, rape and alot more if we go down looking for some facts in history. I living in the same sector for almost 30 years now have seen the non development and the delvelopment phase of the park and the scene was dramatically changed once the yellow M of mcdonald’s shone its signs throughout to lit up the park.
I have seen my grandchildren’s happiness and joy when they used to visit the park in mcdonalds. My grandchildren still crave for their burgers and park rides which were a huge attraction for not just my kids but for alot of other parents i guess as well since it was well guarded place with propoer boundry and security. I did not have to get worried about running after my grandkids every 5 seconds from a passing car which is usually the case in every park i have seen in islamabad.
i hope and sincerely pray that people whose decision matters come to their senses and can realise that whoever was operating mcdonalds restaurants was not just running a restaurant but also giving alot of reasons to bring the smiles to families. Btw my my grandchild took his first steps at that very place and it holds a very special place in my heart. I pray we get the happiness running back in the city with the restaurtant opening back againRecommend
this is sooo unfair! why a reputable paper like dawn would publish these lies in unbelievable. consumer wtach dog groups need to keep an eye on such yellow jounalism! as a resident of islamabad i would want the best services available in my city as enjoyed by any world capital. hope the decision makers in power offices make the right call instead of getting influenced and become biased. Recommend
Please advertise obvious conflict of interest. Journalism ethics demand itRecommend
@ people saying that this is a commercial more than a news article, well maybe it is, but that doesn’t change the fact what Dawn news have been doing. Dawn is considered or was considered one of the most authentic source of news, I don’t understand their reason for this type of misleading reporting. May they got paid for it or just jealous that express news has higher ratings than Dawn news. Quoting revenues as profits, misreporting the area leased, claiming that the papers are lost, saying the selection process was unfair. If you are saying this is not some thing that should be on the front page of a national news paper (i.e. ET) why the hell not??? When the largest selling English news paper of the country is misreporting for such small piece of land how can you trust them to report honestly when the stakes are higher?Recommend
I support the Tribune, Dawn never publishes my comments.
I blame prejudice.Recommend
et should be ashamed of itself. Recommend
Gud work ETRecommend
I am a mother of three and find very few places to take my kids for entertainment and good quality edibles. If places like Mc donalds will be shut down where do you expect us to take them? In fact the park becomes even more attractive due to the existence of the outlet!Recommend
I totally agree with …the park was in such a bad shape but now at least there was a place to take my child where she could be entertained and also get to eat quality food which I know is safe and hygienically made. I, as a mother was very happy and it’s really sad that mcdonald’s was shut down.Recommend
What I want to know is, why hasnt anyone contradicted DAWN before this? true the media has freedom but to use its powers to misreport and bad mouth a company that is so well known is disgusting I must say. People across the nation read and believe what is potrayed in DAWN and if this is how they play with their power, then who do we trust?Recommend
Hey how come there were no comments when Dawn was attacking McDonalds and printing all those news items … read them personally. What if a company without any media on its back was in this position. Then no one would hear their version of the story, they would have been out of business, hundreds of jobs lost, so many families affected. This is such irresponsible journalism.Recommend
This is unacceptable. Dawn should be penalized for such yellow journalism.
We should see the bigger picture, mcdonalds indeed gave alot of people an opportunity to come together with family and enjoy. Besides mcdonalds there are no such places which offer food, decent crowd and the best option for a spacious park with small park with no entry fee in islamabad.
I request the “Few Some” fortunately or unfortunately sitting at some of the powerful chairs to make the right choice for the people and not get influenced or biased on fauty reporting.
As an old citizen i can only hope and pray the restaurant opens back again since it was one of the crowining jewels in islamabad venue vise and from family destination point as well. Keeping fingers crossed!!Recommend
tssk tskk…..two great papers locking horns over faulty reporting!! What is becoming of the Red Baron brigade, lols i think he is still high on the lata fever to realise his mistakes at the moment. I am an avid reader of Dawn since last 15 years and i sometimes feel there is alot of propaganda involved in its reporting.
Newspaper should only report not give their word of opinion or pull eachothers legs. But unfortunately, in our country only those news sell which have been backed up by alot of masala’s.
I have no love for both the restaurant and the newspaper but i would only say, that restaurant as it opened up gave a fresh start to the 8am – 9pm life in Islamabad and give the isloooites a reason to come out of their homes and have fun times. My kids are in love with that place and i can safely say the same about the kids living in my neighbourhood as well.
As a citizen, i can make an appeal and pray that some sense prevails in our judiciary and other reporting channels and mediums and let us have some joy and happiness which is otherwise compensated by our great political scenario and already not too much of a positive image of our country in other international channels.
Hope it gets resolved soon and we get back our friendly restaurant back up and running.Recommend
From Cola wars its convergence now burger/media war. I protest why only Express Tribune is only available, and why Dawn is not available at McDonalds Outlet. Yes the bun of McDonald is Dawn brand from the house of Dawn. Is Dawn interested to the franchise of McDonald, than we can give him the franchise of world fame Gutka from India counterfeited. Talk shows wrestling, leg pulling on TV’s now it will be McDonald Bun Kabab, or Nihari from Rajput, or counterfeit Gutka from leading Indian brand. Both Dawn, Express Tribune English wala foreign assembled are good. Please don’t fight. Ache bache.Recommend
I have been reading about articles publishing in dawn over this restaurant in islamabad for a while now. Its really painful to read such a thing when people living in Islamabad have been deprived of such good public places in the past.
Having born and brought up in Islamabad, i can very strongly relate to the need of such place here. mcdonalds opened up its doors somewhere in early 2007 i remember and within a few months they gave us the beautiful restaurant completed with natural landscape and greenry all around.
I just have one question, apart from CDA parks and armed forces controlled parks in both Isb & Pindi where the hell do we see such preservation of nature and beautification and that too with the free entry to the park which will be a suicide for a normal operator in any case. But i think mcdonalds gave the people of islamabad a wonderful gift by developing a mainting the park of such a big scale and we should be thankful to them. The F9 Park is considered to be one of the biggest parks in all of Asia but unfortunately none of the previous governments ever took an initiative to develop it completely due to the lack of fiundings and brain to do so.
Fortunately for them a man known for his vision came and transformed the beautiful city into much more beautiful city than before. I believe most of the residents of Isb will agree with me on this as since mcdonalds inception the whole of the landscape of islamabad has changed. People during those days were only hearing about the negative views about pakistan, their involvement in terrorism activities, suicide blasts and what not.
Having come to mcdonalds you would see people from all walks of life coming together under the same roof along with alot of foreigners who were visiting the restaurant with familes all the time brought the same impression to everyone that everything is calm and serence as comapared to false reporting on our channels unfortunately. I would only ask people to understand the difference between being informed about something and being incepted with an idea planted mischievously through negative propaganda or biasness.
We already live in a world of hypocrites and can hardly afford any more. Some media watch dog should come forward and ask for the accountablity for such heinous and degrading act from Dawn which wasnt expected from them anytime soon. So much for the truth , justice and timely reporting from such a prestigious paper.
I would say let mcdonalds continue to run their restaurant as they are serving the ordinary citizen of Islamabad and Rwp. Unfortunately this is not operated by a biggiee whose son or daughter is married to the higherups sitting in the pwerful corridors waiting to broker a deal i guess otherwise it would have opened up by now. The restaurant was for the people of islamabad and it attracted the masses who couldnt afford eating out often. It served as a platform for youngsters to sit together interact, school children a playground, familes to spend time together and masses who could easily afford the low priced items. I remember my driver taking his family to mcdonalds over eid and came back jubilient as he could enjoy the same facilties for his children even without paying for park fees and playing area in restaurant and out in park.
Also think for a minute, the restaurant size and the qty of staff it had required to run itself. That must be 120 – 150 people. Giving job to such a big number of people, training them and having them serve their city, isnt this what we should appreciate them for as well.Recommend
Should the park be there or not the court will decide that, but how Dawn has been reporting the issue is really shameful, this is the level of journalism in this country? That too by a news paper started by Qauid-e-Azam himself. They should have reported the facts and let the people build their opinion rather than leading them to their own agenda.Recommend
great article. i think this should be followed with a detailed supplement for the public at large.Recommend
i think it’s important that Islamabad has fast food outlets like McDonald’s to add variety to food and entertainment options in the city.
in addition, this particular outlet is unique because Mcdonald’s manages the park alongside it. such tenancy models should be encouraged to create more open spaces like parks and other entertainment, to add vibrancy to the city.Recommend
We all know McDonald’s at F-9 Park, Islamabad was illegal, so it should not be allowed to re-open there.Recommend
Well if you guys have the guts you should have sued Dawn half year back, unfortunately this creates doubt as to whether express is correct or not??Recommend
Such a waste of space … ET has lost my trust todayRecommend
Endorse Syed Nadir El Edross comments, for fairness, objectivity.Recommend
Clash of the titans :)Recommend
Express Group and McDonald’s are sister companies.
Now that is a news for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Recommend
ET should be ashamed of themselves. Where are their Media ethics??? This sucks!!!Recommend
Agreed with Stateless and AlagRecommend
Dawn is losing its credibility. Recommend
there goes my last bit of respect for the express groupRecommend
How is ET any better than Dawn if you are bringing your fight, for your sister company, on the papers, instead of taking Dawn to court and asking them prove all those allegations and sue their behinds!
I think you are scared they might actually provide credible evidence and proof and that you’ll lose the case… therefore you have no alternative but to write such articles and refute everything…
McDonalds F9 was illegal… deal with it. This very media fought for the independence of judiciary… now that they are making unbiased judgements… you have a problem… why the hypocrisy?
Please act maturely.Recommend
And whoever thinks McDonalds food is “safe” and “hygiene” please see the documentary…
“Super Size Me” and then let me know your thoughts on the safety of mcdonalds food.Recommend
How was this article allowed to be published??!!Recommend
There is no need for Express Tribune to come to the rescue of its “sister” company. Leave that to the courts. This article should not have been published. As everyone one else is saying this is no worse than the recent PML/MQM episode.
I think I waste my time visiting this website. First they published that fake Wikileaks story without checking it at all. What a magnificent example of a journalistic failure that was indeed. And now this irrelevant article…
Does anyone know of any other independent news websites from Pakistan? Express Tribune just lost a reader… Recommend
The manner in which this article was published in daily ET i m forced to cancel my subscription of ET.i don’t give rs 15 daily so that i can read about ET sister companies.Recommend