A Journalist at Panorama, the BBC’s flagship current affairs series, has been reprimanded for losing his temper and screaming with rage during the making of an investigation into the Church of Scientology.
John Sweeney has apologised for the outburst against a scientologist which was filmed and then put on the video-sharing website YouTube, prompting criticism of the corporation. The BBC held an internal inquiry but said Sweeney had not breached any guidelines.
The incident is one of the first examples of ‘video ambushing’, where organisations being investigated turn the camera on the film makers. The Church of Scientology, whose members include the Hollywood stars Tom Cruise and John Travolta, shadowed the Panorama team in America with its own camera crew. It has made a ‘counter documentary’, attacking Sweeney’s methods, and distributed 100,000 DVDs to MPs, civil servants, religious groups, media organisations and business leaders.
Panorama has responded by posting a YouTube clip of its own in which leading scientologist Tom Davis, a friend of Cruise and son of the film actress Anne Archer, also a scientologist, is seen losing his temper at Sweeney’s use of the words ‘sinister cult’ and storming away mid-interview with the reporter in hot pursuit. In a separate clash Archer, an Oscar nominee for her role as Michael Douglas’s wife in Fatal Attraction, is understood to have snapped when Sweeney asked if she could have been brainwashed. The Church has withdrawn consent for the BBC to use the footage and Panorama is being hastily re-edited for broadcast tomorrow, but will still include the Sweeney outburst.
Get a grip man. Why was that video behind him (the WTC? burning).
#1 – Its a conspiracy… one of those “hush hush” ones…
2. I knew freakin Scientology was involved!
A religion made up as a half joke by a drunken “B” level scifi writer, and cashed in for profits. Okay , it passes the religion logic test. 😉
#4
Always seems to be the story, but what’s really amazing is that there are a lot of people who are more than willing to dupe their minds into believing in it.
#4, Zeno, isn’t going to invite someone, into his magic spacecraft.
I believe that if Hubbard hadn’t done this scientology thing, he’d be remembered as a A- scifi writer, as his stuff is pretty campy, but well-written and readable in a popcorn movie kind of way.
How many of you are aware that Scientology actually began as Dianetics? I know they still use/sell the book (though I haven’t seen the old TV spots for DIANETICS), and I read it way back before it became a cult/religion.
J/P=?
Sorry, Alix, but I can’t read the crap. I mean, Burroughs – that’s camp in it’s quaint innocence; but Elron is just a lame clichéfest from sunup to closing time… then again, I’m a Jack Vance fan, so maybe I’m too demanding. 🙂
Hey you two — get a room.
#6: It’s Xenu.
I seemed to recall that at one time in the US there was a feller that did in your face interviews, of course Mike Wallace never screamed at somebody….
Man, compared to Sweeney, those Scientologists are looking downright reasonable.
… oh,
can you ever remember an Englishman sounding so much like Hilter in that Leni Riefenstahl film?
I was waiting for a “heil” to come out!
Holy smokes, I wonder what he’s like then the cameras aren’t running!
#10 – John C
“Hey you two — get a room.”
OK, NOW I get it, I finally snapped; and here I was thinking you were merely innocently promoting the American hospitality industry…
You’ve got stock in Motel 6, doncha? 🙂
Don’t get me wrong….I read BBC News daily and like it…..but when the BBC wants to do a hit piece on something or someone that don’t toe their leftist line, they do it. Sweeny’s piece is just that. Not in a belligerant way, but very newsie.
Scientology deserves all the crap it gets. Loony fanatics. But Sweeney got upset when Scientology did the same thing to him that he did to them. Scientology was correct when it said that Sweeney went into the project with his mind and script already made up and written. But he isn’t fooling with Prince Charles here or Bush or Israel….the Scientologists have money to burn and lawyers to burn it.
Makes my heart feel good when one propagandist goes after another.
sais a (supposedly) christian to a scientologist: you’re a member of a sinistre cult.
Does anyone see the humor in this?
pj
#11: isn’t it Zune?
😉
pj
Here’s a nice video to go along with that one, one from the BBC with more of the video leading up to the incident. Plus a little extra.
14: Scientologist handler arrives on site… compares journalist losing his temper while confronting psycho stalker to Adolf Hitler… logs Big Win on his weekly report to the Sea Org.
Extra auditing for you! Stats are UP in LA!
If you don’t think they’ve handlers assigned to monitor Google and Technorati, and to swoop in and denigrate critics and inflate the “scandal” in any way possible, then you all really have to start reading. Check xenu.net for starters.
BTW, where’s the video of this asshat stalking the journalist for weeks? They do it to incite an outburst to paint you as a lunatic. Per their doctrine, anyone who criticizes Scientology is insane and a criminal, and is open to attack on property, employment, and character. They are authorized to lie, sue, ruin. And they do it in numbers.
And the Beeb fell for it. Sigh. A reprimand. At least he didn’t get fired. I’d keep an eye out for that particular event later — they don’t believe in giving up. They’ll chip at the BBC until they ruin him.
here’s the whole thing of that documentary. After watching it up to that point, It’s really hard not to blame the guy, even if it’s unprofessional. you can also tell that this is one of the Scientologist’s cameras
I find it fascinating that people have judgemental opinions on a programme that they have only seen an exert from. I watched the entire documentary and Dorian is quite correct – Davis was unreasonable and not prepared to listen and discuss anything about scientology in a professional and adult manner. The journalist appeared to lose it big time but actually if you stop for a second and really think about the pschology, he didn’t. He tempered his voice to loud and then very calm in an effort to be able to make his point to an individual who only wanted to listen to the sound of his own voice. It was the result of weeks of Davis hijacking interviews, stalking and wishing to condemn a professional journalist for speaking to real people about their experience with scientology. Unfortunately for scientology and for Davis, Davis himself did more harm than good to his own cult’s perception.