Scientology Church hires reporters to investigate newspaper, invokes Dan Rather
“After decades of digging into the Church of Scientology, reporters and editors at the St. Petersburg Times are accustomed to being denounced by its leaders.
But they find it unsettling that three veteran journalists — a Pulitzer Prize winner, a former “60 Minutes” producer, and the former executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors — are taking the church’s money to examine the paper’s conduct.”
Spokesman Tommy Davis compares the articles exposing violence and abuse in Scientology to the bogus TANG Bush documents: “Asked about Brown’s view that the study could not possibly be objective, Davis says: “It’s easy for the St. Pete Times to pop off and say that, but oh, please. It’s a normal thing. It’s done all the time.” He likened the effort to CBS hiring an outside panel to investigate Dan Rather’s 2004 story on George W. Bush and the National Guard, which the network later retracted. That report was a self-examination, however, and was made public. “