You have to hand it to the Australian media -- they are, as a whole, less cowed by scientology than in any other country. We have watched for years as Bryan Seymour and Steve Cannane have done numerous stories exposing scientology's abuses. And there have been others too. And now Ben Schneiders has joined the party, and is making a big splash. In the past week he has published an explosive report about scientology finances and follow up stories detailing how this is now ballooning into a demand from at least one member of the Australian Parliament, Andrew Leigh, for an investigation of … [Read more...]
Episode 9: Steve Cannane
This week we talk to Australian investigative journalist, Steve Cannane. You can listen to the podcast here: Steve has reported extensively on scientology in Australia, breaking a number of stories of victims of abuse over the past decade: His reporting prompted him to write a book, very appropriately entitled Fair Game. This is the definitive history of scientology in Australia. But events in Australia have had a huge impact on scientology around the world. Much of the policies on dealing with enemies and attacks grew out of the Victorian … [Read more...]
Steve Cannane’s Fair Game
I have just finished reading Australian national journalist Steve Cannane's book Fair Game. I highly recommend it as a very well written and researched account of scientology's history and a revealing expose of newly disclosed and little known information. Steve had earlier commented that I had prompted him to embark on this exercise when I had mentioned the important role Australia had played in the history of scientology -- from the first government inquiry and ban to the Australian High Court decision defining religion and the precedent setting role of Australian media unintimidated by … [Read more...]