Scientology and Me
| Panorama | |
|---|---|
The opening title to Panorama's "Scientology and Me".
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| Created by | Panorama · John Sweeney |
| Presented by | Jeremy Vine · John Sweeney |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Editor(s) | Damian Leask |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Original release | 14 May 2007 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
"Scientology and Me" is a television documentary first broadcast on 14 May 2007 as part of the BBC's Panorama series. In it, reporter John Sweeney visited the United States to investigate whether the Church of Scientology was becoming more mainstream. The programme gained particular controversy before and during filming due to unresolved differences on content and approach between Sweeney's production team and Scientology members. Tommy Davis, the international spokesperson for Scientology, did not want detractors or perceived enemies of the church to be interviewed or included in the documentary and wanted to censor any references to Scientology as a "cult".
The scale of the controversy intensified when the Church of Scientology released a 40-second clip of video footage showing a screaming argument between John Sweeney and Scientologist Tommy Davis over the way in which Sweeney was interviewing critics of Scientology. In the clip, Sweeney yells "You were not there at the beginning of the interview! You were not there! You did not hear or record all the interview!" at Davis in reference to an interview Sweeney recorded with Scientology critic Shawn Lonsdale. Despite the Church of Scientology's lobbying British MPs to have the documentary scrapped, its first airing went ahead on 14 May. With a peak of 4.9 million viewers in the UK, the episode garnered the highest ratings for Panorama since September the previous year.
The documentary was intended as an investigation of the claims of both critics of the Church of Scientology and the Church itself to see if the Church "still deserved its sinister reputation". In the introduction, Sweeney outlines his investigation into the reputation of the Church of Scientology, its affiliated celebrities and its current activities. He begins with an edited version of a statement issued during the 1994 Los Angeles Superior Court case Church of Scientology of California vs Gerald Armstrong, in which Judge John Breckenridge describes the Church of Scientology as "[s]chizophrenic, bizarre, ... paranoid[;] ... an organization that harasses its enemies ... and abuses the trust of its members". Sweeney notes that the case has been derided by the Church of Scientology as it believes it was based upon discredited evidence.
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