Yet another stinging critique of the Center for Reflection, Education and Action’s unsound study of the working conditions in Florida’s tomato fields has been published, this time by the Center for Media and Democracy.

The article not only examines the report’s many well-documented inaccuracies, but also looks at the less immediately obvious forms of influence McDonald’s wielded over the study itself, including the timing of the release of its partial results. On the rushed nature of the supposedly independent study — which resulted in one of the report’s most glaring methodological errors, the drawing of broad and unsupported conclusions based on a patently unrepresentative study sample — CREA director Ruth Rosenbaum had this to say in the article: “McDonald’s asked us to release whatever we could before the CIW ‘truth campaign’.”

Hmmm… an “independent,” “scientific” study whose timing and conclusions are shaped by the public relations needs of the corporation that paid for the study… Has McDonald’s taken a page from the tobacco industry’s playbook? The article concludes on this stinging note: “CREA… has become not a watchdog of McDonald’s, but more its lapdog.” Click here to read the Center for Media and Democracy article in its entirety.

And click here for a comprehensive summary of analyses of the failed McD’s study from across the country, a study denounced as “misinformation” that “should have no credibility whatsoever.” You’ll find critical reactions from labor and social science experts, leading human rights organizations, and religious, student, and community groups ranging from former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich to United Students Against Sweatshops. If you have a moment, this section is a must read!