Just as McDonald's breathes a sigh of relief that the "the most expensive and disasterous public relations exercise ever mounted by a multinational company" (Channel 4 news) has finally been laid to rest, the ever-notorious McSpotlight website reopens the can of worms with the launch of its CD-ROM. 'an image-conscious corporation's worst nightmare' Columbia Journalism Review The CD-ROM is a complete copy of the internet site, containing over 20,000 pages of information about McDonald's and the McLibel Trial. It includes all the official court transcripts (313 days), witness statements from both sides (140), the full verdict (800 pages), 21 in-depth interviews with key characters and witnesses, over 500 press articles and of course the 'What's Wrong With McDonald's' leaflets, now translated into more than a dozen languages and ready to be printed off. "McDonald's sued us because they wanted to stop the public spread of information about them. But already millions of leaflets have been handed out, and there's a book, a documentary, a 3-hr drama, a website - and now the McSpotlight CD-ROM. So who won?" Dave Morris, McLibel defendant Other attractions include a guided tour (with audio from the Mclibel defendants), photo album, quiz, animation, video clips, stuff for sale, cartoons, pages for kids, 2 full-length plays and suppressed material from McDonald's previous legal actions. Despite being accessed over 40 million times, and receiving worldwide coverage (CBS: 60 Minutes, USA Today, Die Tageszeitung, Times of India, BBC, Helsingen Snomat, The Australian, Daily Mail, New York Times, BSkyB), McDonald's have made no attempt to stop the McSpotlight website. They know the PR consequences of any censorship attempt on the Internet. The launch of the CD now makes the discussion academic. The CD now also has on it the full length version of the 'McLibel: Two Worlds Collide' documentary: 'A very brave film. No wonder the main TV channels dare not show it.' Ken Loach Also included on the CD is a digitised copy of the 60-minute documentary 'McLibel: Two Worlds Collide', partly directed by Ken Loach. Both Channel 4 and the BBC wanted to broadcast the film but both were stopped by their lawyers.The film is also available as 'streaming video' on the web: http://www.spanner.org/mclibel/ More info about the film: One-Off Productions. Tel: 0171 247 8881. Email: oops@spanner.org 'If websites are the asteroids of cyberspace, surely the McSpotlight page is its Death Star!' Interactive Weekly magazine More details about the CD: info@mcspotlight.org Notes for editors: McSpotlight is run by volunteers working from 16 countries (at the last count). It's main computer is in the Netherlands (where libel laws are less draconian than the UK). The site has been accessed 40 million times since its launch in February 1996. It was accessed 2000 times in its first week by a computer called 'mcdonalds.com'. The CD-ROM is not for sale, but anyone wanting a copy is asked to send a donation to the McLibel Support Campaign. Review copies are available free to journalists. Donations would be greatly appreciated in the region of £7.50 (UK); $12 (USA) and £9.00 RoW. For 'ordering details please go to the merchandise page. The CD-ROM only works on PC computers and requires an Internet browser (Netscape, Internet Explorer etc).

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