In the mid-1980s, more than ever before, television advertising was about big budgets and excess. Bucking that trend was Scientologist and marketing whiz Jeff Hawkins, whose understated, minimalist TV ads for L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics helped launch the book onto the best-seller list—and arguably sparked a worldwide interest in the religion. Hawkins' ads featured simple questions like, "Why are you unhappy?" in white print against a black background, backed by edgy music supplied by Hawkins' friends, and finally, a shot of ...

His rant at a Scientology spokesman was a ratings winner, but the Panorama reporter insists there's more to him than just a loud voice Panorama reporters are not supposed to "lose it". Not on camera, anyway. So no wonder that John Sweeney's spectacular cartoonish strop with Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis three months ago - in which he resembled an incandescent frog, eyes bulging, voice croaking with rage - became one of those water-cooler TV moments, making headlines and propelling him to ...

Attention South Park writers looking for their next episode! (Comedy Central) While the verdict may still be out as to whether Scientology is a brainwashing cult or not, after a recent run-in with the BBC, two things are abundantly clear: Scientologists can't stand being called cult members, and they have the power to drive even seasoned journalists absolutely insane. BBC reporter John Sweeney, whose documentary "Scientology and Me" ends in a 40-second shouting match between him and Church spokesman Tommy Davis, ...

RESPECTED Panorama journalist John Sweeney was this week seen on TV exploding in a fury during an interview with a leader of the Church of Scientology. Here he apologises but also reveals the other side of the movement ? what one one judge called “corrupt, sinister and dangerous” ? not to mention the stranger hiding in the bushes outside his recent wedding. THE Archbishop of Canterbury, MPs, Lords, top coppers and, for all I know, Wayne Rooney and the Beckhams: Anyone ...

BBC reporter John Sweeney apologises for losing his temper on tonight's Panorama programme on Scientology. He talks about the 6 months of intensive research behind the film and what it was exactly that drove him to lose it This was a disaster. I feel ashamed and, although I've been kicked around the Panorama office by the BBC, no one is more embarrassed about me losing it than me. I let my team down and I apologised when it happened and I ...

Angry Scientologists are trying to get a BBC documentary about their faith scrapped amid claims of "gross bias" by presenter John Sweeney. The Panorama programme, to be shown tonight, investigates whether the Church of Scientology has moved away from its past as a brainwashing cult. But furious church members - including actor John Travolta - say the programme should be ditched because Mr Sweeney showed he was biased by losing his temper and shouting at a top scientologist. After the man ...

Aired May 14, 2007 - 22:00 ET THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. Tonight, thousands of American troops in Iraq searching for three of their American buddies, searching their hearts out because they know all too well what the people who claim to have them can do and have done to captives in the past. We will have the latest on the ...

The Panorama editor, Sandy Smith, has defended tonight's controversial John Sweeney investigation into the Church of Scientology. Mr Smith said tonight's Panorama would feature the YouTube clip of Sweeney losing his temper and shouting at Scientology representative Tommy Davis after he accused the BBC reporter of giving a critic of the faith an easy ride in an interview. Footage of the scene, which was filmed by the Scientologists, was posted on YouTube last week and Sweeney has apologised for the outburst. ...

NB: THIS TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A TRANSCRIPTION UNIT RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT: BECAUSE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF MIS-HEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY, IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE BBC CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS ACCURACY JEREMY VINE: Hello, I'm Jeremy Vine. It's 8.30 and this is Panorama. Scientologists say they are just like any other religion. TOMMY DAVIS: I have absolutely nothing to hide whatsoever, zero. JOHN SWEENEY: Really? DAVIS: Dig and dig and dig. SWEENEY: ...

The battleground is YouTube and Scientology's weapon is a clip of me losing it in the "Mind Control" section of a gruesome exhibition. Scientology has fought many battles to keep its secrets off the web, now they are using it to attack my investigation into them. Scientology has prepared an attack video, and they have shown the Scientology v Sweeney shouting match to anyone who would watch it. There is talk of 100,000 copies being released. Family 'disconnects' Scientology works. That ...

Panorama reporter's outburst at Hollywood star's son is captured on video 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 ...

The faded little downtown area of Clearwater, Florida, has a beauty salon, a pizza parlor and one or two run-down bars, as well as a bunch of withered bungalows and some old storefronts that look as if they haven't seen customers in years. There are few cars and almost no pedestrians. There are, however, buses — a fleet of gleaming white and blue ones that slowly crawl through town, stopping at regular intervals to discharge a small army of tightly organized, ...

[Picture / Caption: Richard Perry/The New York Times Subway riders have become used to Scientologists' offer to gauge their stress level. But the city has ejected the group for selling books.] A corridor of the Times Square subway station may not seem to be the ideal spot to conduct a carefully controlled psychological experiment. For one thing, the soundproofing is entirely inadequate. The confluence of a dozen subway lines creates constantly shifting sonic interference, ranging from mild to deafening, that an ...

Crowd of people outside Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles; picture of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman VO: The high profile role of Scientology’s celebrities– which include America’s most popular actor, Tom Cruise– adds to Scientology’s mystique. footage of Travolta being presented with a “1998 Celebrity with glamour of the year” (?) award from somebody (glass trophy with red and blue hand prints painted on it) JOHN TRAVOLTA (on movie set in Army camouflage outfit) (voice of and on camera): I’m part ...

Scientology is the religion everyone loves to hate. So how come so many movie stars are devout followers? Moves into the church's Celebrity Centre for an exclusive look at the starway to heaven. AT FRANKLIN AND BRONSON A LOGJAM OF LIMousines crawls toward the mock-French Normandy Chateau. At the grand doorway, celebrities, lawyers, producers, and the children of the well-heeled of the entertainment industry step onto the crimson-carpeted tarmac, chattering through the pink-and-gold lounge to the lawns and fairy-lit trees beyond, ...

A Multnomah County Circuit Court jury awarded $39 million in punitive damages Friday to a Portland woman after finding she was victimized by "wanton misconduct" by the Church of Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. The verdict was returned in favor of Julie Christofferson Titchbourne, 27, after 2½ days of deliberation and a 10-week trial. One of her lawyers, Ronald L. Wade, said it was the biggest punitive damages verdict in Oregon history. John Carmichael, president of the Church of ...

How a Portland jury got a crash course in one of the oddest "religions" ever created and awarded the plaintiff more than $2. million Note: This summer, a jury in Portland spent a month listening to testimony in a $4 million lawsuit over the practices of the Church of Scientology there. The plaintiff: Julie Christofferson, a young Portland woman who was a follower of Scientology in 1975 and 1976. The defendants: three local Scientology organizations and one of their leaders. ''Richard ...

Scientology courses are designed to make students dependent on their instructors so it is "easier to brainwash them," a disaffected Church of Scientology communications supervisor testified Tuesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court. One particular "drill" called "bull baiting" involved verbal and physical abuse and sometimes overt sexual contact, Diana Morgan testified. She appeared as a witness for Julie Christofferson Titchbourne, 21, in the trial of a $2 million-plus damage suit Mrs. Titchbourne brought against three Scientology organizations and adherents. She is ...