Press
Press in the News
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Date |
Title |
Blurb |
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November 20, 1998 |
Scientology's New Tack |
When Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe filed two criminal charges against the Church of Scientology last week over Lisa McPherson's death, the reaction of church officials was unusually benign. "We'd like to see how to move forward and put this unfortunate incident behind us," said Mike Rinder, a top Scientology official known more for his attacking style. The church's attitude in January 1997 was very different. It sued Pinellas County Medical Examiner Joan Wood after she said McPherson went without fluids for five to 10 days before her death, and a Scientology attorney called the respected medical examiner a "hateful liar." |
Clearwater, Lisa McPherson, Press |
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November 14, 1998 |
Florida Charges Scientology In Church Member's Death |
Florida prosecutors filed criminal charges against the Church of Scientology in connection with the death of a church member while she was under the care of Scientologists three years ago. The church's Flag Service Organization, its chief operating arm in Clearwater, Fla., was charged with abuse or neglect of a disabled adult and with the unauthorized practice of medicine in the death of the church member, Lisa McPherson, 36. |
Clearwater, crimes, Lisa McPherson, Press |
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November 14, 1998 |
Scientologists Charged in Death |
The Church of Scientology was charged in the 1995 death of a member whose family claimed she became severely dehydrated after being held against her will for 17 days. |
Lisa McPherson, Press |
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November 9, 1998 |
French Justice In Scientology Row |
French justice will face accusations today that it has been manipulated by the Church of Scientology as the Paris Appeal Court rules on whether to continue a 15-year investigation into the organisation. The disappearance of some of the investigating magistrate's files has fuelled the suspicions of anti-sect campaigners before the hearing. They believe Scientologists have infiltrated the upper echelons of the legal system, using their influence to put pressure on judges and block inquiries. |
crimes, Paris, Press |
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October 29, 1998 |
And The Band Played Believe It If You Like |
Back in the good old rationalist days of the 1970s, when American Scientologists were regularly greeted by Special Branch officers at Heathrow and returned toot-sweet to from whence they came, it would have been impossible to imagine Lafayette Ron Hubbard's bunco-booth cult getting as easy a ride from an allegedly sceptical journalist as Jon Ronson gives it in the first instalment of For The Love Of . . . Faith (C4, 12.25am), his new series of informal gabfests with adherents of various, mostly unconventional, religions. |
Glasgow, Press |
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October 25, 1998 |
A Place Called 'Gold' |
Seven hundred Scientology workers put in 60-hour weeks to: remaster the scratchy tapes on which the late founder once recorded his lectures; translate his words into more than 30 languages; produce Scientology films, tapes, videos, television commercials, magazines and books; and manufacture e-meters, the electronic devices used in the core Scientology counseling practice called "auditing. |
Press |
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October 25, 1998 |
The Man Behind Scientology |
When David Miscavige recounts his rise to power in the Church of Scientology - a journey that began when he quit high school at age 16 - it is mostly a story of war. War against renegade Scientologists. War against Scientology's critics. War against its one-time archenemy, the IRS. Miscavige's friends say he is "intense" and "insistent" and "doesn't suffer fools lightly." Scientology's critics say he is a bully. |
Clearwater, David Miscavige, Press |
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October 20, 1998 |
Butterworth Offers Help in Scientologist Case |
Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth has offered "the complete services of my office" to help investigate the 1995 death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson. McPherson, 36, had been under the care of fellow Scientologists who tried for 17 days to nurse her through a psychotic outburst at the Fort Harrison Hotel, Scientology's retreat in downtown Clearwater. Although physically healthy when she entered the hotel, she was dead on arrival after Scientologists drove her to a Pasco County hospital. |
Clearwater, crimes, Lisa McPherson, Press |
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October 16, 1998 |
Defamatory Attack - Scientology Defames Professor |
In early June, The Globe and Mail distributed an insert published by The Church of Scientology entitled Freedom. This insert contained an article that amounted to a lengthy and defamatory attack on Dr. Stephen Kent and his research on new and alternative religions, particularly Scientology itself. |
Press, Scientology and Society, Toronto |
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April 5, 1998 |
Anti-Ritalin Campaign Misleading, Critics Say |
Twelve-page pamphlets are being handed out on street corners across the U.S., sounding frightening alarms about Ritalin, a prescription drug used for three decades to calm hyperactive children. Researchers and government regulators looking into the legitimate worries about misuse or over-prescription of Ritalin ridicule these "facts" as distortions and exaggerations of their work. Because the claims are constantly recycled without qualification or context, they say, parents are panicking unnecessarily. |
obstructing psychiatry, Press, Scientology and Society |
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