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Investigative Reporting in the Public Interest www.freedommag.org DAVID MISCAVIGE At the helm of SPECIAL REPORT The Story the S.P. Times SCIENTOLOGy’S Refusedwww.freedommag.org to Tell explosive growth1 thousands of Scientologists have contributed to improving their The Bigotry Behind the community through charities and civic groups. Scientologists work alongside friends and neighbors on civic and cultural boards, Times’ Facade of Responsible in sports and arts societies and in numerous social partnerships. The newly restored Fort Harrison regularly hosts functions for other charitable organizations; public are welcomed for tours Journalism and Church staff work hard to invite questions and provide an open response. Juxtaposed with the day-to-day reality of friends, neighbors and workmates who are Scientologists, the hysteria of the Times’ stereotypes has become self-evident. A full and objective review of the recent allegations the Times presented to the Church from four ex-Scientologists evidences both the lack of credibility and sinister motives of these sources— people who will say anything to attack their former faith. • The same false allegations have been posted on the “grassy knoll” of the Internet by avowed Scientologist-haters for years. • Even though first-person accounts from dozens of eyewitnesses demolished the fabrications presented by the Times’ sources, reporters Joe Childs and Tom Tobin refused to hear from those eyewitnesses. • The Church provided an unprecedented amount of documented evidence and detailed accounts proving the sources had lied. • The Church also provided detailed evidence regarding the motives of these four apostates to lie about the religion and St. Petersburg Times building at 490 First Avenue South in St. Petersburg its leader: delusionary ideas of “taking over” the Church, resentment over their removal from posts and money. n recent years, the S.P. Times has worked hard to present a In the most offensive gesture of all, the S.P. Times refused more honest and credible image to the public, attempting to accept an offer of an in-person interview with Mr. David to shed its reputation for biased reporting. The newspaper’s Miscavige, the ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion. Irecent “special” report exposed the facade: At its core, the S.P. The interview would have been his first in 11 years and only Times has not changed. It is an organization that twists the news the third in his 25-year career as the Church’s leader. Despite to incite hatred against Scientologists and stops at nothing to purporting to seek this interview, to which Mr. Miscavige had paint a false picture of the Scientology religion and the Church. immediately agreed, the newspaper abandoned its facade of Recounting its long record of bigotry toward the Church of objectivity, cancelled the interview and rushed to print. The Scientology, its members, staff and leaders is unnecessary. Times reporters and their bosses knew the scheduled interview That is something with which most Tampa Bay residents are with Mr. Miscavige was absolutely essential under fundamental all too familiar, including thousands of non-Scientologists journalistic standards and ethics. When they turned their backs appalled at the Times’ attempts to unfairly stigmatize on that interview, the reporters made a conscious decision to turn Scientologists who are their friends. their backs on the truth. After all, they knew a response would But if the Times has not changed, the articles in this magazine further annihilate the credibility of their sources, rendering their detailing Scientology’s explosive expansion in both Clearwater false story fatal. and around the world show how Scientology has continued The Church offered the reporters full and unfettered access to to grow. As the Church has gained greater local prominence, the Church and all facilities. Tobin and Childs refused to accept the offer. The Times decided this information “wasn’t relevant” to their story, that somehow an interview with the Church’s Juxtaposed with the day-to-day reality ecclesiastical leader was unnecessary even for a three-part series of friends, neighbors and workmates who on the man. So, in response to the Times exhibition of unprovoked are Scientologists, the hysteria of the Times’ malice and shredding of the truth, Freedom presents the real story stereotypes has become self-evident. of both the Church … and the so-called journalism practiced by the S.P. Times. © 2009 Church of Scientology International. All Rights Reserved. Grateful acknowledgement is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard. FREEDOM, SCIENTOLOGY, DIANETICS, FREEWINDS, THE BRIDGE, OT, LRH, GOLDEN ERA PRODUCTIONS, SCIENTOLOGY CROSS, SCIENTOLOGY SYMBOL, DIANETICS SYMBOL and the SEA ORG SYMBOL are trademarks and service marks owned by Religious Technology Center and are used with its permission. Scientologist is a collective membership mark indicating membership in a Church and the Church membership services of the affiliated Churches and Missions of Scientology. 2 www.freedommag.org The True Face of Scientology: Unparalleled Growth Since 2004 z 8,071 Scientology Churches, Missions and groups in 165 nations, doubled since 2004 z Total assets and property holdings of the Church of Scientology doubled since 2004 z Church premises increased from 5.6 million square feet to more than 11 million square feet since 2004 CREATING A NEW ERA z 70 buildings acquired by the Church in the world’s major population centers since 2004 OF EXPANSION DAVID MISCAVIGE: AT THE HELM z 401,003 square feet of construction of new OF Scientology’S EXPLOSIVE GROWTH premises completed in the first half of 2009 4 | The Story They Refused to Tell z 500,000 square feet of Church premises currently under construction in Brussels, Rome, 6 | Cover Story: Creating a New Era of Expansion Tel Aviv, Quebec, Mexico City, Las Vegas and 11 | Charting the Course for Scientology Expansion Washington, DC 13 | Meeting the Global Demand for z Number of individuals completing Dianetics and the Scientology Religion Scientology counseling and courses doubled in the past two years 24 | Islands of Friendliness: Ideal Orgs Around the World z Total number of counseling hours doubled in the past decade 26 | Building for the Future of the Scientology Religion z Total number of people newly introduced to 30 | A Renaissance for Scientology Scientology and starting on training or counseling 36 | Meeting the Demand for Scientology Materials doubled in the past five years 38 | Bringing Scientology to the World: z L. Ron Hubbard awarded three Guinness World Golden Era Productions, A Statistical Overview Records in the past three years: • Most published works by a single author: 1,084 HUMANITARIAN AND SOCIAL PROGRAMS • Most audiobook titles on earth: 185 • Most translated author in the world: 71 languages 39 | The Church of Scientology’s Planetary Social Betterment Campaigns z 80 million L. Ron Hubbard books and lectures on Dianetics and Scientology distributed in the 40 | The Truth About Drugs last decade, compared to 5.6 million in the prior 41 | Human Rights decade 42 | The Way to Happiness z 60 million books and lectures distributed in the past two years—more than the combined total in 43 | The Scientology Volunteer Ministers the first 50 years of Dianetics and Scientology z The Church’s Bridge Publications in Los Angeles SPECIAL REPORT and New Era Publications in Copenhagen INSIDE THE S.P. TIMES combined production capabilities increased 660 percent since 2007 44 | Feature Story: Merchants of Chaos z Bridge Publications and New Era Publications 61 | The Critical Omission established as the world’s largest all-digital, on- 63 | David Miscavige: The Peacemaker demand publishers, with combined capacity of 65 | Scientology—a World Religion 500,000 books per week (26 million per year) and 925,000 CDs per week (48 million per year) 66 | “Journalism 101”: Trampling on Media Ethics z 2.4 million L. Ron Hubbard Dianetics and 69 | The Brush-Off: Rush to Judgment, Rush to Press Scientology books placed in 97,997 libraries in 72 | Those Who Knew Them Best 155 countries since July 2007 76 | What Really Happened z 12.4 million online visitors from 234 countries viewed more than 23 million videos on the 78 | How to Be an Investigative Reporter Scientology website in the past year at the St. Petersburg Times (it’s easy) 79 | A Closing Word www.freedommag.org 3 INSIDE THE S.P. TIMES | A FREEDOM SPECIAL REPORT THE STORY THEY REFUSED TO TELL DAVID MISCAVIGE AND THE SCIENTOLOGY RENAISSANCE onspicuously missing from the 16 Churches, Missions and groups in 2004 pages of the S.P. Times “Special to over 8,000 in 2009. And in terms Report” on Scientology is the true of physical scope and global presence, Cface of the Church’s ecclesiastical the Church’s property holdings have leader, Mr. David Miscavige, the driving doubled during the same time period force behind Scientology’s explosive from 5.6 million square feet to over 11 expansion. million square feet. More than 70 new Moreover, utterly missing is the church buildings have been acquired and true face of the Scientology religion, are now in various stages of design and expanding far greater than ever in its construction. And Scientology-supported history with Mr. Miscavige at the helm. social betterment and humanitarian [See The True Face of Scientology: programs are now touching the lives Unparalleled Growth Since 2004, p. 3.] of billions. But most telling in terms of Upon request, the Times was immediately global demand for Scientology are the informed that Mr. Miscavige would be more than 80 million L. Ron Hubbard available to be interviewed and the date books and lectures distributed in the last was set for the 6th of July. This would be five years—more than the cumulative directly following the fulfillment of Mr.