The lead story at SaveDisney.com—an activist shareholder site supported by disgruntled former board member Roy Disney—has taken what I consider to be a cheap shot at the company’s employee communications.

The article, titled “Inhuman Resources,” recounts the numerous ways Disney allegedly mistreats employees. “Never known (in recent years) as the most humble or friendly of places to work (its reputation as ‘Mouschwitz’ is well known in the entertainment industry), The Walt Disney Company is increasingly viewed as a company hostile to its workers and unwilling to tolerate or accept even the smallest amount of dissension or questioning,” the article begins.

My father worked at Disney—the part now known as Disney Imagineering—for a long time and I’ll agree that it was never the most people-friendly place. The article cites a litany of HR abuses.

Here’s the bit that irked me:

“Disney offers no avenue for effective employee communications. The official corporate newsletter (physical and online) is a heavily edited jumble of press releases. There is no corporate ‘suggestion box’ or employee representative on the Board of Directors (a practice followed by several leading companies). Cast-Members are offered no voice at the annual shareholder’s meeting or at any company gathering. ...Recent executive ‘coffees’ with ‘randomly selected employees’ appear to feature carefully selected queries that provide a blast of internal publicity reinforcing management mantras.”

If the charges areis true, then why is it a cheap shot? Because Disney just hired a new top internal communications officer specifically to fix these issues. It’s not something author Jim Douglas mentioned, ostensibly because it would diminish his argument. I happen to know the new communicator—have for about 10 years—and she’s as good as they get. She knows the challenges she’s facing, but the reason she’s there is for the opportunity to help Disney get internal communications right. If anybody is up to the task, she is.

Not that I expect an attack site to be fair and balanced. But Douglas and his bosses could at least have mentioned that an effort is underway to communicate better with employees.

It’s a cautionary tale, in any case. When your company comes under attack, the quality of your internal communications could easily become a target of your adversaries.