biased media
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American Media: Stop Sensationalizing Religion
When a reporter takes on the subject of (someone else’s) religion, he or she does not usually understand what he or she is reporting on, or is relying on biased/slanted data and ignoring the sensibilities of their intended audience.
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America’s Most Dangerous Cult
“Everybody knows” what a cult is. “Cult” is one of those words promoted by the media. Yet if you question anyone using the word, they invariably fall into a blubbering stammer when trying to define it.
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An Open Letter from a Scientologist & Black Man to Tampa Bay Times Bigots
You see, I understand I am just another “nigger,” and you know what is best for me. You deem yourself my Master. You are not my friend.
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Reader Beware: Fake News Is Cheap and Easy
The data is fascinating and rather unnerving at the same time. In about an hour’s time, Mr. King created a fake news website, put together a fake news story by re-using a popular one he had seen, created a fake news page on Facebook, created a fake ad promoting the fake news from his fake page, targeted the ad to the groups most likely to salivate over it, specified his budget of about $50.00 and then clicked “place order.”
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Do Scientologists Believe in Aliens?
For the record, I’ve been a Scientologist for over thirty years, and so far no one in the church has ever inquired about my belief in aliens or insisted—or even recommended—that I “believe.”
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Ex-Members, Bigotry and Lazy Journalism
I have no doubt that in some cases the alleged negative experiences of ex-members are at least partially true. But what about when they aren’t?
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Fake It Till You Make It: How Mass Media Manipulates
Fake News has become a staggering problem. Public trust in media institutions has declined sharply in the wake of numerous scandals fueled by fabricated stories in the news and on social media.
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Fake News Isn’t News and It Isn’t New
Some years ago, my local Church of Scientology was in a legal battle with an individual who was violating the law. We took him to court and eventually won. What we didn’t win was the battle with fake news.
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If I Were to Tell the Story of You
Pretend for a moment that I am a journalist. You’ve become something of a big deal, a hot topic. Lots of important people are mixing it up with you and it’s got the media all abuzz, so I want to do a feature piece on you. Sounds good, right? But I don’t want to interview you personally.
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Scientology: If You Don’t Know, Don’t Pretend to Know
We eventually won that particular battle—and many others. But we didn’t win it by waiting for newspapers to say nice things about us.
