Wal-Mart, faced with the imminent release of the Wal-Mart Movie by BraveNewFilms, is taking an aggressive stance to counterpunch before the film even arrives at house parties around the country on November 13. There is a long write-up on the AOL news service, at this link, about Wal-Mart's aggressive response to the movie, as well as an opportunity for readers to participate in several polls on related issues.
The blogosphere has weighed in with comments on the Wal-Mart controversies. See this link for an example.
But the most interesting piece of news is the report that the Labor Department signed an agreement with Wal-Mart that made major concessions to the giant company, such as giving the company 15 days' notice before an inspection for child labor violations, without any quid pro quo. The government even let Wal-Mart's lawyers write substantial parts of the settlement, without permitting the department's own lawyers to review it. See Steven Greenhouse, Labor Dept. Is Rebuked Over Pack With Wal-Mart, New York Times (Nov. 1, 2005). California Democrat George Miller noted that "The sweetheard deal put Wal-Mart emp-loyees at risk, undermined government effectiveness, and further undermined public confidence that the government is acting on its behalf." Id.
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart is busy trying to figure out what to do about the fact that the American public is learning about its extraordinarily poor labor practices, such as not providing decent health care options to its employees, with the result that many of their children have to use Medicaid to get health care. See this internal Wal-Mart memo. Under the barrage of criticism, the company plans to host a "self-study" conference to be attended by about 80 press and media people, to create at least a media/PR impression that it is addressing its many problems. See this story.
Will Wal-Mart convince the media to tell its story its way? Let's hope that the media will be wiser than it has been in recent years when powerful people try to manipulate the information that Americans receive.