Channel 4 Airs L Ron Hubbard Show Despite Scientology Threats
Despite legal threats and harassment from Scientology, England's Channel 4 aired a program as part of their "Secret Lives" series on the life of L. Ron Hubbard, the science fiction writer and founder of Scientology.
Even John Travolta, actor and spokeperson for the cult, asked the station England’s not to show the documentary. A full article, "Travolta begs BBC Channel 4 not to attack Scientology," by Chris Blackhurst of The Independent is available at A0911704.html
The station refused to pull the film, insisting it was based on factual material and interviews with people who had known Mr. Hubbard well.
Scientology's efforts to have the program canceled were extensive. A private investigator was sent to England from the United States to question friends of the reporters who produced the documentary. The PI, Eugene Ingram, is a wanted man in the United States, where warrants for his arrest are in place.
England's Telegraph issued an article on Scientology's harassment of these journalists, "Scientology film-maker says he is victim of 'subtle harassment'" on Thursday 20 November 1997, by Tom Utley. The Telegraph's home page is at www.telegraph.co.uk, and the article can be accessed there.
Further background information on Scientology's campaign to stop Channel 4 from showing its documentary on L. Ron Hubbard is available at eugene.html.
Meanwhile, Channel 4 has a comments page on the Internet where the public is invited to discuss topics related to their programming. This discussion area is located at areatop.html. There are at least six threads of commentary on the L. Ron Hubbard documentary, the comments of which began to pour in hours before the show even aired.
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