Church of Scientology International to Senior Vice President

October 23, 2015

Tom Cibrowski
Senior Vice President, Programs, News Gathering and Special Events
ABC News

Dear Mr. Cibrowski:

I assume you are aware of the Church of Scientology’s ongoing correspondence with John W. Bentley concerning Leah Remini.

All the questions submitted to the Church about Ms. Remini’s upcoming book show that ABC and Dan Harris intend to air yet another one-sided hit piece.

ABC ignores the fact the Church has grown faster globally in the last 10 years than it did in the previous 50. Instead, it intends to advertise a book across all of its platforms by an exceptionally bitter former Scientologist ABC and Mr. Harris have promoted no fewer than 15 times in the last two years.

All this is part of a larger effort to provide a megaphone to an embittered group of anti-Scientologists whose core members number less than a dozen. To say ABC has been disproportionately unfair by continuing to provide them a platform while ignoring the accomplishments and humanitarian efforts of Scientologists in more than 150 countries worldwide is a gross understatement. ABC would never commit the time, resources and funds to similar unsubstantiated tabloid claims made by a handful of disgruntled former Catholics, Jews, Mormons, Protestants, Buddhists or Muslims.

Here is a summary covering just the last two years of your coverage of Ms. Remini alone:

July 12, 2013 Dan Harris reports “Star leaves Church of Scientology.” He has not done such an announcement for any other prominent person departing a major religion.

July 18, 2013 Good Morning America covers “why Leah Remini left Scientology; sister speaks out on split with Church.” Again, this is Dan Harris.

July 30, 2013 Good Morning America/Dan Harris: “Leah Remini takes on Scientology”.

August 3/5, 2013 Dan Harris announces Leah Remini’s book as a “tell all.” This is also carried on World News Tonight with David Muir.

August 9, 2013 Good Morning America/Nightline both reports by Dan Harris: “Remini Files Missing Persons Report for Miscavige’s Wife.” Harris pushes this harassment before the police report is made public, wasting valuable law enforcement resources, forcing them to determine within hours that the report was “unfounded” and issue an official statement.

Sept 23, 2013 Leah Remini appears on Dancing with the Stars making disparaging statements about the Scientology religion in a taped segment.

Sept 24, 2013 Good Morning America/Dan Harris “Scientology battle in the ballroom; ‘dancing’ star says church wants her to fail.” A poor publicity stunt from ABC, as the Church made no such statement.

Sept 24, 2013 Nightline with Dan Harris: “Dancing with destiny; Remini and Scientology,” an interview of Ms. Remini. Harris takes a cheap shot to say, “Shelly Miscavige has not been seen recently,” even though he already knew the Los Angeles Police Department determined Ms. Remini’s report was “unfounded”—which means there was NO missing person. Harris actively supports this harassment of Church leadership.

Oct 4, 2013 Good Morning America/Dan Harris: “Will Leah Remini testify against Church of Scientology?” Apparently if someone files a deposition notice, ABC will run a story.

Dec 6, 2013 Good Morning America carries a story with Dan Harris reporting that Kirstie Alley called Leah Remini a bigot. The program re-airs the comments Remini made on The View (November 19, 2013).

Mar 17/18, 2014 Good Morning America and Nightline airs a story by Dan Harris on Sara Goldberg, claiming that the Church forced her to choose between her son and her daughter.

ABC News 3 October 23, 2015

Jan 28, 2015 Good Morning America/Dan Harris reports on the showing of Alex Gibney’s documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.

Jul 17, 2015 ABC promotes Leah Remini’s reality show and posts an excerpt in which she talks about leaving Scientology, which is gratuitous religious discrimination.

Sep 24, 2015 ABC News issues a press release that Leah Remini will sit down with Dan Harris to discuss her memoir and that the interview will air on a “20/20” program on Friday, October 30 at 10 p.m., ET Excerpts of Remini’s interview will air on all ABC News programs and platforms.

Oct 17, 2015 ABC announces that Leah Remini will return to Dancing with the Stars to co-host a segment to replace Erin Andrews who is covering the World Series. The show will air on Monday, October 26, 2015.

When did ABC and Dan Harris become self-appointed judges of religious beliefs? At what point does ABC stop promoting self-serving bigotry and actually look at what the Church of Scientology is doing today? All of this information is readily available at www.Scientology.org when and if you choose to become objective.

Regards,

Karin Pouw