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Chicken News Network bows to evil cult

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Jul 22, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/22/96
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In article <31f3a7f...@news.snafu.de>, til...@berlin.snafu.de wrote:

> [posted to alt.religion.scientology, alt.journalism, alt.censorship,
> cnn.general, and e-mailed to feed...@cnn.com or whatever address will
> work]
>
> Here an article from the Washington Post. My comment at the end.
>
> =========
>
> Taking a Swat At the Fly on the Wall
>
> By Howard Kurtz
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Monday, July 22 1996
>
> The Washington Post
>
> [unrelated stuff on Woodward's book deleted]
>
> Spiked
>
> When Time magazine won dismissal of a $416 million libel suit by
> the Church of Scientology last week, CNN asked the reporter
> involved if he would talk about the chilling effect of such suits
> on the press.
>
> After talking to a church official, however, CNN killed the
> interview with Richard Behar. The reporter, who now works for
> Fortune magazine, is accusing CNN of "cowardice," saying "this is
> exactly the chilling effect" about which he was interviewed.
>
> CNN spokesman Steve Haworth denied that pressure from the church
> was involved, saying Behar did not "advance the story" and made
> "unsubstantiated allegations" against the church that the network
> did not have time to check out. "We felt it would have been
> irresponsible to air those particular excerpts," Haworth said.
>
> Debbie Blair, the church's national affairs director, said it was
> "absurd" to suggest that the church pressured CNN, saying the
> network made the decision on its own. "I can't tell anyone what to
> air or not to air," she said, adding that Behar seems to be
> "promoting himself" and "trying to make this into some kind of
> conspiracy."

dlynn...@aol.com appears to be senior to cory. 'national
affairs director', if you believe this release!

-- see...@ix.netcom.com
I love my country. I fear my government. [on a bumper sticker]

Tilman Hausherr

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Jul 22, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/22/96
to

=========

The Washington Post

Spiked

Behar, who has filed a harassment suit against the church, says he
got a different explanation from a CNN producer. He says the
producer told him that the interview was killed, on advice of
CNN's lawyers, after a church official expressed concern that
Behar was making libelous charges without the Scientologists
having a chance to respond.

Asked why CNN could not air Behar's remarks after further
reporting, Haworth said it was news primarily on the day the suit
was thrown out. He said Time Warner Inc., which was completing its
merger with CNN's parent company last week, had "no editorial
influence" on the story.

Attorney Floyd Abrams, who represents Time and was also
interviewed by CNN, said the CNN producer later called him to say
a Scientology official had told the network "that if they
broadcast Richard's charges, one libel suit might be over, but
there might be another one."

Behar says he told CNN what he reported in his 1991 Time story and
is contained in his lawsuit: that private detectives for the
church followed and harassed him and obtained his personal credit
report. "It's every journalist's nightmare," he said.

=====

My comment: this chicken-attitude of CNN may have two reasons.

1. Their inhouse-scientologist Greta van Susteren (the one in trouble
for active solliciting of by lawfirm)

2. The fear of the costs. While TIME has won, their freedom of the press
has nevertheless cost them $7,000,000 - and this price is too high for
CNN. Obviously, the tactic to sue, regardless of the chance to win, is
paying off for the evil cult. Very few newspapers take the risk to
expose scientology for what it is - and they pay a high price. The
others bow down to just the *possibility* of scientology starting a
lawsuit.

CNN = Chicken News Network

Tilman


Rev. Dennis L Erlich

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Jul 22, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/22/96
to

Responding to til...@berlin.snafu.de (Tilman Hausherr):

>CNN = Chicken News Network

Hsssssssssssssss! <the villain>

Rev. Dennis L Erlich * * the inFormer * *
<dennis....@support.com>
<inF...@primenet.com>

Tom Klemesrud

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Jul 23, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/23/96
to

Rev. Dennis L Erlich (inF...@primenet.com) wrote:
: Responding to til...@berlin.snafu.de (Tilman Hausherr):

: >CNN = Chicken News Network

Keep in mind that former Los Angeles Times Publisher Tom Johnson headed
to Atlanta to run CNN in the late 80's. While Johnson was at the LA
Times it took Welkos and Sappell 4 years to finally publish their series
on scientology--I believe it finally came out in 1990, a few months after
Tom Johnson left for CNN.

Those in the know say Johnson was offered a Million Dollars in
advertising for the paper by a Scientology executive, at a cocktail
party, if Johnson would kill the story. Also, an old college roomate of
Johnson's call and implored him to drop the story.

Johnson apparently arrived at CNN with baggage. It was shortly after
that all those Dianetics commercials started showing up on CNN.

The Editorial staff may not be chicken ... the problem might be right
at the top.

a few months ago I was contacted by a CNN producer for CNN Presents. One
phone call, and they dropped it cold. I don't think anything meaningful
will come of of CNN concerning Scientology, until they get a little more
professional about journalistic ethics, responsibilities, and principles.
Time/Warner should do a little butt kicking. BTW: When did Scieno Greta
start doing the one CNN legal show? Was it after Johnson arrived?

: Hsssssssssssssss! <the villain>

: Rev. Dennis L Erlich * * the inFormer * *
: <dennis....@support.com>
: <inF...@primenet.com>

Tom Klemesrud SP5
KoX

Steve A

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Jul 25, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/25/96
to

til...@berlin.snafu.de (Tilman Hausherr) wrote:

>[posted to alt.religion.scientology, alt.journalism, alt.censorship,
>cnn.general, and e-mailed to feed...@cnn.com or whatever address will
>work]
>
>Here an article from the Washington Post. My comment at the end.
>
>=========
>

[snip]

>Debbie Blair, the church's national affairs director, said it was
>"absurd" to suggest that the church pressured CNN, saying the
>network made the decision on its own. "I can't tell anyone what to
>air or not to air," she said, adding that Behar seems to be
>"promoting himself" and "trying to make this into some kind of
>conspiracy."

Sure she can't. But we've all seen Scientology's line in not-so-veiled
legal threats, haven't we?

And their in-house lawyer wasn't about to start telling them to kick
the cult in the crotch, was she? After all, she "likes the ethics" of
an organisation that can be accused of just about every kind of fraud
and abuse and still fail to win against their accuser in court.

>Behar, who has filed a harassment suit against the church, says he
>got a different explanation from a CNN producer. He says the
>producer told him that the interview was killed, on advice of
>CNN's lawyers, after a church official expressed concern that
>Behar was making libelous charges without the Scientologists
>having a chance to respond.

Sounds plausible - this is, after all, Scientology's pat response
every time something about them crops up in the media. And of course,
their idea of "having a chance to respond" turns out to mean denying
their critics the very right of free speech that they claim they have
been deprived of.

>
>CNN = Chicken News Network

Hmmm, yes...how can CNN be considered to be a respectable
news-gathering organisation if their criteria for showing stories is
so easily varied? What happens if the government decides it doesn't
like the look of a story they want to run? Or Coca-Cola?

Looks like even what news we see is coming down to The Mighty Dollar.
Maybe airlines might like to consider this next time a plane crashes -
just threaten a lawsuit and hush the whole thing up.


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