Day 245 - 07 May 96 - Page 23


     
     1   Q.   You did not write this press release but you are put
     2        forward as a witness to give evidence about the motives of
     3        the company in doing these press releases and the leaflets
     4        which were distributed in the stores.  Did you speak to the
     5        people who wrote the press releases and the leaflets?
     6        A.  I certainly spoke to them.  Whether I read every word
     7        before it went out, I could not say.  The releases were
     8        done in an attempt to balance what you yourselves had put
     9        out since the first of the year, that year 1994.  Until
    10        then we had said nothing whatsoever.
    11
    12   Q.   Who was it who wrote these press releases?
    13        A.  Communications Department.  I would guess several
    14        people were involved, I do not know who.
    15
    16   Q.   That includes Mike Love, Edi Bensilum?
    17        A.  Could very well have been.
    18
    19   Q.   You do not know?
    20        A.  I just told you I did not know who specifically wrote
    21        every line of the press release, no.
    22
    23   Q.   Did you see these press releases before they went out?
    24        A.  Sure.
    25
    26   Q.   You did?
    27        A.  Yes.
    28
    29   Q.   Who handed it to you?  Was there a memo attached to it
    30        saying: "Mr. Preston, will you have a look at this and see
    31        whether you think it is OK"?
    32        A.  I do not remember who handed it to me.
    33
    34   Q.   Anyway, they went out on your say so.  You did not bother
    35        to check whether or not they were true before they were
    36        sent out?
    37        A.  Well, there was no reason for my people not to say
    38        something untrue if they genuinely believed it to be so.
    39        They just do not -- as I say, there is no future in trying
    40        to deceive the public or deceive me.
    41
    42   Q.   If you look at tab 13, which is number 13 in the top right
    43        corner in red writing?
    44        A.  Yes?
    45
    46   Q.   Do you remember this article?  It is about you.  It is
    47        dated 21st October 1995 and it is in The Times?
    48        A.  I remember some of it, yes.
    49
    50   Q.   Right: "Boss who relishes the heat in the kitchen" and in 
    51        the third column? 
    52        A.  Yes? 
    53
    54   Q.   It says:"A typical week for Preston would not be complete
    55        without a visit to the High Court where the infamous
    56        McDonald's libel case has dragged into its second year.  2
    57        unemployed penniless environmentalists allegedly
    58        distributed leaflets using McDonald's of environmental
    59        destruction and selling food link to heart disease and
    60        cancer. So far more than 35 thousand pages of documents

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