Day 313 - 13 Dec 96 - Page 48


     
     1        in a lot of things and so in terms of recruitment,
     2        obviously, they are looking for people who are willing to
     3        work for a minimum wage, at or near the minimum wage.  So
     4        that is a fair comment, we would say.
     5
     6        "The fact that disadvantage groups are even more exploited
     7        by industry than they are already", the word exploited we
     8        would say is comment.
     9
    10        Finally, under "everything must go", the second sentence
    11        "all of them", that is the junk food chains like Wimpy,
    12        Kentucky Fried Chicken and Wendy, et cetera, "hide their
    13        ruthless exploitation of resources, animals and people
    14        behind a facade of colourful gimmicks and family fun", we
    15        would say that is fair comment.  That is a kind of a
    16        comment based upon the overall impression in the whole of
    17        the fact sheet.
    18
    19        I do not know if that exercise was helpful, what was
    20        wanted, because we were never really quite sure what
    21        exactly was needed in that exercise.  I mean, obviously, it
    22        seems to us what is important is what is fact and comment
    23        in the actual meanings which you decide the text holds.
    24        So, it is kind of a bit of an abstract point to do it on
    25        the text of the fact sheet, but what we would say is that
    26        within the meaning which you have ascertained for the
    27        nutrition section, which I have not got in front of me, and
    28        any other meaning for any other section, there will be
    29        elements of fact and elements of comment; for example, the
    30        word like "unhealthy" is clearly to us comment based upon
    31        the fact that, you know, fats and sugar are discouraged
    32        because of their link to degenerative diseases, et cetera,
    33        and that is going to crop up with all the sections, the
    34        meanings that you decide.
    35
    36        So, that is an exercise we cannot really do because you
    37        have not decided those meanings, and I think that it may be
    38        helpful in future cases, as you have said, that the
    39        meanings should be decided first and that certainly seems
    40        sensible to us.
    41
    42        Finally, on this subject, the words, the additional words
    43        that have been floated as being there must be something
    44        more than just, you know, McDonald's exploit their workers,
    45        you know, McDonald's -- I cannot remember the word that was
    46        suggested -- you know, unconscionably or wrongly exploit
    47        their workers, these additional words that have been
    48        brought up as potential meanings are, in fact, matters of
    49        comment. First of all, we are saying that a corporation
    50        does not have, cannot have -- cannot be equated with
    51        individuals, and therefore it cannot be said that we should
    52        have to prove that a corporation is unconscionable or did
    53        something wrongly or implying some kind of human, moral,
    54        ethical framework for what is, in fact, just some kind of
    55        typical legal existence which is a corporation; but if we
    56        should have to justify those additional meanings, first of
    57        all, most of them are inferential meanings; it is not
    58        something that has been stated in the text, therefore it is
    59        an inferential meaning.  If it is an inferential meaning,
    60        we are entitled to justify them from many relevant evidence

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