Church of Scientology aims to discredit New Yorker exposé with parody issue

The New York Times | Freedom Magazine
Six months later, The Church of Scientology has struck back at The New Yorker for its exposé of the church and its bizarre practices by publishing “essentially a parody” of the magazine, as the Times’ Jeremy Peters puts it, which was distributed Wednesday outside the Condé Nast Building in New York. The cover image of the church’s Freedom magazine turns New Yorker icon Eustace Tilley into a hobo next to the headline: “The New Yorker: What a Load of Balderdash.” “Not all of it is light-hearted,” Peters writes. “The church singles out editors, fact-checkers and other New Yorker staff members who worked on the article by name and prints their photos. The church also uses what appears to be a surveillance photograph taken of [article author Lawrence] Wright while he was conducting an interview at an outdoor cafe in Texas.” The Village Voice’s Tony Ortega talks to former church spokesman Mike Rinder, who wonders who exactly the audience is for the magazine. A New Yorker spokeswoman tells Joe Pompeo that the magazine stands by its reporting and fact-checking. || Earlier: New Yorker sent Scientologists 971 fact-checking queries | Reporters paid by Scientologists to investigate St. Pete Times ‘proud of the work we did’ | Report: Scientologists tried to silence WP’s Leiby by investigating his 2005 divorce