From: hubbard@xenu-spam-trap.dds.nl (Michael 'Mike' Gormez)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Scieno "PR"  (was:Re: What Does Ambiguous Mean?)
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 1997 22:22:12 GMT
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Summary: "The [Scientology] organization clearly is schizophrenic and
  paranoid," -- Breckenridge Decision.
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in article <199707091510.KAA10925@etex.electrotex.com>,
warrior@electrotex.com (Warrior) wrote:

>    Part of the required training for a $cientology executive is a
> special course on "TRs" (training routines) which teach and drill a
> person on how to *NOT* answer questions, how to change the subject,
> how to practice "verbal karate" (to interrupt or "chop" a person's
> "comm cycle") so as to get the person (like a reporter) flustered,
> etc. Robert Vaughn Young wrote a great piece that goes into great
> detail about the special "TRs" that "high-level" clams use.
>    Maybe someone could find and post it again. I think an under-
> standing of these techniques is essential for anyone dealing with
> $cieno attorneys, spokespersons and other executives who have public
> contact, because if you understand what they are doing, you will
> know how to handle their tricks...

Think it's on: http://www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/cos/comments/rvyinside.html

Also the "REPORTER TRS" and "HANDLING HOSTILE CONTACTS/DEAD AGENTING"
HCOB are somewhere online I'm sure. You might also consider to read
dcs@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM (David C Smith) "Scientology and PR" series,
as was last (?) posted in July '96. Haven't checked, could be on his
homepage:  http://starbase.neosoft.com/~dcs/scieno1.html


Mike

======
from Quill
The Magazine of The Society for Professional Journalists
November-December 1993
copyright 1993 by Quill

[pages 38-41, consisting of a major story, a smaller story and four
sidebars]


Scientology from inside out

A former insider reveals strategies for managing the news media
by Robert Vaughn Young
 

	They say the first step in any recovery program is the admission,
so here it is: I handled public relations (PR) and the media for L.
Ron Hubbard and his Scientology empire for 20 years.

	It is no accident that I avoid saying "Church of Scientology" --
the trademarked corporate name. The Scientology world is much larger
than merely the "Church" of Scientology (see [sidebar] "Secular," p.
40). It is a labyrinth of corporate shells that, like a hall of
mirrors, was designed to baffle all but the initiated. Add to that an
arcane language and dedicated "PRs" trained to divert and control
inquiries, and it becomes obvious why few outsiders have been able to
comprehend the Scientology hydra, let alone write about it. I hope
this will make it easier.

	From 1969 to 1989, I worked at every echelon of the organization,
from a small, new "mission" up to national and then international
level, including handling media in other countries and working at
Hubbard's personal literary agency. During my tenure, I handled
reporters from high school papers and from The New York Times. I have
appeared as a Scientology spokesman on radio talk shows and national
TV news, as well as in magazines, books, and even a documentary film.
I was a member of the Guardian's Office, the pseudo-naval Sea
Organization, and the glitzy Author Services Inc., Hubbard's literary
agency in downtown Hollywood.

	When the FBI raided Church of Scientology Guardian offices in Los
Angeles and D.C. in 1977, I was the national spokesman, fielding
questions on that day and in the months to come.

	When Hubbard's secret international headquarters at Gilman Hot
Springs near Hemet, California, was exposed in 1980, I went in to
convert the image of the facility overnight. I gave the Los Angeles
ABC-TV affiliate a tour of "Golden Era Productions," the image it
still has to this day (see "How to fool the press," p. 41).

	When Hubbard died in 1986, I was called to his secret California
ranch, arriving well before the authorities were called, to help
design and implement the strategy to control the media, as well as to
calm his followers.

	For my training, I studied and had secret directives from Hubbard
and others on how to handle reporters, how to deal with police and
government agencies, how to create front groups, and how to discredit
or destroy a person or a group with Hubbard's "fair game" doctrine.

	I also trained other Scientology PRs on how to handle the media,
using material from Hubbard. This included how to respond to a
question without answering, how to divert the issue, how to tell "an
acceptable truth," how to stall for time, how to assume various
emotional states to control another, how to "attack the attacker," how
to take control of a conversation, how to introvert a person and how
to "get the message across" (especially in an age of sound bites), how
to help Scientology attorneys write inflammatory legal papers so the
PR could then safely use the abusive phrases, and how to appear to be
a religion.

	This, in brief, is what a journalist faces when encountering a
trained and dedicated Scientology PR. The journalist wants a story.
The PR wants to kill the story, or at least control it. While this is
not particularly unusual, Scientology goes further than most.
Scientology stands ready and able to unleash an assault on the
journalist that can include private detectives and lawsuits, making it
little wonder that publications have grown reluctant to write about
the Hubbard empire. (See "Shudder into silence," Quill, Nov./Dec.,
1991.)

	Since Scientologists know how the Fourth Estate operates, it's
time the journalist had a chance to learn some of the attitudes,
rules, tactics, and tricks known only to Scientology.

	1. Your local fanatic. Before taking with any Scientology PR or
executive, a journalist must know that he or she will be talking to a
fanatic -- a person seeking to save the world. This is exactly what
Scientologists believe they are doing.

	Moreover, unless you stand ready to print a Scientology story
exactly as presented, you will be viewed as an enemy, an agent of the
American Medical Association (AMA), a mouthpiece of psychiatry, or
someone ready "to sell out the human race if his editor told him to"
-- in the words of a Hubbard policy letter of August 14, 1963. (This
is a key Scientology document. Ask a PR to give you a copy. If he
declines, it can be found in the green policy volumes available in any
Scientology bookstore.

	2. You keeping notes? Know that after your meeting (and after
each encounter, including phone calls) the PR will write a debrief
This report will usually be E-mailed to the PR's superior and up the
command channel -- and probably also into an intelligence area for
filing. Therefore, start your own notes of everything that transpires.

	3. Image is everything Realize that when you are dealing with a
PR or official of the Church of Scientology, religious image is not
only a vital PR defense (the ecclesiastical equivalent of wrapping
oneself in the flag) but is also crucial for tax-exemption purposes
and for court cases. Thus the PR must be sure to demonstrate that
Scientology is "an applied religious philosophy." The PR will have
many documents to "prove the religious bona fides" of Scientology (but
lack anything to the contrary -- such as decisions or rulings -- of
which he may honestly not know) .

	4. The shell game. When proving the bona fides, PRs make no
distinction among the many Scientology corporations. A Los Angeles
organization will parade the acceptance of Scientology in London or
St. Louis. But when needed, a complex labyrinth of corporations -- a
veritable hall of mirrors -- comes into play. Suddenly no two
Scientology organizations touch. Officials of one will act as if they
barely know the officials in another. The reason is, of course, the
IRS and the courts.

	So try to find out which corporation you're talking to and how it
relates to the material you are being given. See if the PR or official
is willing to go on-record permeating the corporate shells.

	Trying to sort out the relations between the Church of Spiritual
Technology, World Institute of Scientology Enterprises, and the
Religious Technology Center is like trying to solve a Rubik's Cube.
Simply take the shortcut: find the unincorporated Sea Organization
(SO). Touted as a "fraternal" organization, the SO is the highest
inner circle of Scientology; it was the actual alter ego of Hubbard,
the hidden nexus that permeates all corporations. Surprisingly, it has
escaped scrutiny.

	But asking the SO about the SO is like asking the CIA about the
CIA. The difference is the CIA must respond to Freedom of Information
Act requests.

	5. Say what? Politicians are notorious for responding to a
question without answering it; Scientology PRs practice the skill for
hours on end. The PR will drill how to answer simple questions about
Scientology, how to "no-answer" a question, how to stall for time, and
how to attack. (According to the original material, this included
shouting, banging the desk, pointing at the reporter, and swearing.)

	Thus a seemingly innocuous question such as "What is
Scientology?" has already been practiced extensively, and there is a
ready answer. More probing questions will produce "no answer."
Therefore a reporter can measure sensitivity by avoidance, and you
will find that once you understand this, it is quite easy to spot.

	To deal with this, first realize that it is part of the PR's
training. Listen carefully to his or her answers. (Better yet, tape
the interview.) When the PR tries to avoid the question with a non
sequitur, repeat your question. Continue to repeat your question until
you actually get an answer. Ask the PR what drills he or she did
before your interview, and ask to see current organization policies on
handling the media. (Many are publicly available in Scientology
bookstores.)

	6. A dead what? Depending on your story angle, you can easily
find yourself buried by packs of documentation. Some are called "DA
[dead agent] packs." Hubbard took the phrase from Sun-tzu's "The Art
of War," in which different types of agents are described. The "dead
agent" is the one who is caught in a lie. The "DA pack" is supposed to
counter a lie (thereby rendering the liar "dead" as a credible source)
and usually addresses a particular document, from a newspaper article
to a book. It is also used to discredit a person or a group that may
be a source of criticism of Scientology.

	A DA pack can include anything from Hubbard's writings to a piece
of press to an affidavit obtained by a private investigator. The
purpose is to refute the targeted piece, person or group at virtually
any cost. If the article presents no clear-cut falsehoods or errors
but paints Scientology in an unfavorable light, the DA becomes a
general reply (usually an attack on the source) that may be issued as
a pamphlet, an ad, or an article.

	Where possible, verify the claims or documentation. Contact the
targeted person, group, or author of the article. Also take note of
what is not refuted or challenged. In Scientology, omission can be as
good as admission.

	You can ask to talk to the people who produced the DA pack, but
chances are you will not be allowed to, because they are not trained
to deal with the media. In Scientology, only trained PRs are supposed
to talk to the press. If an exception is made, it will be only those
that are proofed up or drilled or have a proven track record of
talking to the media about Scientology, and then it is often with a PR
present. (A recent example will be found in the September issue of
Premiere. The reporter was denied access to Hollywood celebrities in
Scientology.) If you can do it, find some staff members who will talk
to you. Find some field Scientologists to interview. You'll learn more
from them.

	7. Go for the gold. In Scientology, there is an exact chain of
command. Each organization has one. The public version is supposed to
be posted on a large wall of the organization. It should show the
local position of your PR What will not be shown is his or her chain
of command.

	The media are handled by the Office of Special Affairs, or OSA,
in the Church of Scientology. The OSA PR will have a senior on the PR
chain of command. If the PR is a local OSA staff member (meaning the
PR for a city or area), his or her senior will be at the continental
level (such as OSA United States, located in Los Angeles) and then at
the "int" or international level (OSA Int is also in L.A.). After
that, the chain of command jumps to the Religious Technology Center
(RTC). In highly unusual circumstances, an RTC official will intervene
to handle a journalist, particularly if it is a crucial story for one
reason or another, because RTC monitors all OSA activity and is
ultimately responsible for any media on Scientology, whether good or
bad.

	RTC's chairman of the board is David Miscavige, who is now the
admitted head of the Church of Scientology. His latest intervention
will be found in the October issue of Premiere magazine. For any story
on Scientology, Miscavige is the one to be interviewed.  He lives on
the Golden Era Productions property at Gilman Hot Springs. The PR
assigned to you will know how to get a message to him. If all else
fails, call Golden Era Productions. The personnel there know how to
reach him.

	Conclusion. Scientology is in a state of siege with psychiatry,
the media, and anything else perceived as attacking Hubbard or the
organization. It has been that way since Hubbard named them as enemies
decades ago. Talk to a Scientology PR long enough, and you may begin
to sense something vaguely familiar about the attitude. walk through a
Scientology office, and the proliferation of photographs and busts of
Hubbard may strike a familiar chord.

	Just substitute "Sea Organization" for "Party" in the following
passage, and the chilling parallel may be evident:

	"Even the humblest Party member is expected to be competent,
industrious, and even intelligent within narrow limits, but it is also
necessary that he should be a credulous and ignorant fanatic whose
prevailing moods are fear, hatred, adulation, and orgiastic triumph.
In other words it is necessary that he should have the mentality
appropriate to a state of war. It does not matter whether the war is
actually happening, and, since no decisive victory is possible, it
does not matter whether the war is going well or badly. All that is
needed is that a state of war should exist. The splitting of the
intelligence which the Party requires of its members, and which is
more easily achieved in an atmosphere of war, is now almost universal,
but the higher up the ranks one goes, the more marked it becomes. It
is precisely in the Inner Party that war hysteria and hatred of the
enemy are strongest. In his capacity as an administrator, it is often
necessary for a member of the Inner Party to know that this or that
item of war news is untruthful, and he may often be aware that the
entire war is spurious and is either not happening or is being waged
for purpose quite other than the declared ones; but such knowledge is
easily neutralized by the technique of double-think meanwhile no Inner
Party member wavers for an instant in his mystical belief that the war
is real, and that it is bound to end victoriously, with Oceania the
undisputed master of the entire world."
--George Orwell, "1984"


Robert Vaughn Young is a free-lance writer in Newport Beach,
California.



[p. 39 - sidebar]
Bibliography:

	There will be no lack of material from Scientology about the
movement. But there are a number of works that the Scientologists will
not cite. Among them are:

	--Los Angeles Times, June 24-29, 1990. This is a six-part series
by Robert W. Welkos and Joel Sappell. It is the most comprehensive
series undertaken by a newspaper.

	--Time Magazine, May 6, 1991, "The Thriving Cult of Greed and
Power," by Richard Behar.

	-Jon Atack, "A Piece of Blue Sky: Scientology, Dianetics, and L.
Ron Hubbard Exposed" (Carol Publishing Group" 1990). This is the most
definitive book available.

	- Russell Miller, "The Bare Faced Messiah: The Story of L. Ron
Hubbard" (paperback, Sphere Books Ltd." 1987)

	--Roy Wallis" "The Road To Total Freedom" (Columbia University
Press, 1976). Perhaps because this is a sociological study of
Scientology, this is a cold, calm, academic dissection of the subject
and Hubbard.


[p. 39 - sidebar]
PR Attack


	"I also trained other Scientology PRs how to handle the media,
using material from Hubbard. This included
	--How to respond to a question without answering.
	--How to divert the issue, how to tell "an acceptable truth."
	--How to stall for time.
	--How to easily assume various emotional states to control
another.
	--How to "attack the attacker."
	--How to take control of a conversation, how to introvert a
person and how to "get the message across."
	--How to help Scientology attorneys write inflammatory legal
papers so the PR could then safely use the abusive phrases.
	--How to appear to be a religion."

	--Robert Vaughn Young,


[p. 40 - sidebar]
The Secular Side


	Scientology actually has two sides: the religious and the
secular. Some may prefer to pursue just the secular side. For example:


	--The Way to Happiness Foundation This was formed to manage
distribution of the Hubbard booklet by the same name that he claimed
is a "non religious moral code." Others say it is a covert way of
establishing Hubbard's presence.

	--Author Services Inc. (ASI)--This was established in the early
1980s as a for profit "full service literary agency" with offices on
Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard. The only catch was that Hubbard was the
only author. And every staff member was in the Sea Organization.

	--Bridge Publications, Inc. (BPI)--BPI publishes Hubbard's books
and materials and distributes them to Churches of Scientology as well
as to commercial outlets. It is located at the Scientology complex in
Hollywood.

	--Citizens Commission On Human Rights (CCHR)--Coordinated out of
the Office of Special Affairs, CCHR is perhaps Scientology's oldest
effort in the field of social reform. It does not overtly promulgate
Scientology but its connection is not denied. Its purpose is to expose
the "crimes" of psychiatry.

	--Sterling Management -- A large for profit management consulting
firm in Glendale, Calif., Sterling Management holds "seminars"
regularly in cities across the United States. Its primary audience
appears to be dentists. It says that it is merely using the
"administrative technology" of L. Ron Hubbard to help businesses grow.
Others say that it is a covert way of bringing money and new people
into Scientology. The issue of the connection between the two is
currently under litigation in a Los Angeles Superior Court. It is
still in the pre-trial stage.

	This is but the beginning. There are many more for-profit groups
that claim to use Hubbard technology. They are usually members of the
World Institute of Scientology Enterprises (WISE) which is licensed by
RTC to use Hubbard's name and materials. WISE issues a directory of
members, and other publications (such as the "Who, What, Where"
directory in Los Angeles) also promote businesses that are
Scientologically-oriented and staffed or run by Scientologists.


	--Robert Vaughn Young


[p. 41]
How To Fool The Press: A study in misinformation


by Robert Vaughn Young

	In nearly 20 years of handling the media for Scientology and
Hubbard, I dealt with a lot of journalists. One of the most
challenging occurred in 1980, when the Riverside Press-Enterprise
broke a story by Dick Lyneis that Hubbard was secretly ensconced at a
nearby deserted resort called Gilman Hot Springs.

	Since the FBI raid on Scientology offices in 1977, Hubbard had
been the target of an increasing number of process servers and
government investigators. His location had become one of Scientology's
best-kept secrets. When necessary, Hubbard could move and he did.

	But the headquarters of Scientology International in Gilman Hot
Springs could not move so easily. Although Hubbard claimed not to be
running the Church of Scientology, in fact he did. Here was the seat
of the Hubbard Holy Empire, 90 minutes east of Los Angeles. Hubbard
was not eager for attorneys, the media, or the Internal Revenue
Service to know this.

	I was sent in to handle the situation.

	As in Clearwater, Florida, Scientology had covertly bought the
Gilman Hot Springs property and secretly moved in. The phone book
listed it as the "Scottish Highland Quietude Club." Few driving by
were interested in the few people who occasionally walked between the
buildings.

	By the time I arrived, Hubbard had disappeared. Most of the staff
he had deserted were terrified because the security he had demanded
had been blown. They knew his temper and they feared his wrath.

	I toured the property and found a small film-making area and an
audio tape production unit, called Golden Era, which was supposed to
supply materials to the Church of Scientology. Both had been shut down
by Hubbard, but I saw my solution. It was, as he called it, "an
acceptable truth." I obtained L.A.'s approval for my plan.

	Through that night and into the morning, the facility was
converted. I had the paper covering all the windows taken off.
Everything was cleaned. Equipment and desks were rearranged to hide
certain tasks and to create others. Tapes, films, scripts, and
costumes were dragged out and made obvious. Many international
management staff were sent off the base to reduce the number of
personnel.

	The next day, the "Scottish Highland Quietude Club" had become
Golden Era Studios. A media tour went without a hitch. The
tape-production area wasn't cranking yet, but I did get people busy
making costumes and booklets or doing artwork. We found a makeshift
studio that "just happened" to be working when the tour came through.
Asked about "international management," I said yes, they did manage
distribution of films and tapes, which did go to churches worldwide.
No one noticed I had avoided the question and diverted attention to
the film and tape production.

	The news that night was perfect. The Riverside Press-Enterprise
story had been countered. Gilman was no longer considered the
headquarters of Scientology. It was just a bustling film and tape
facility that supplied the Church of Scientology.

	When the flap died down, international management quietly moved
back in. Since then Golden ERA Productions has expanded considerably.
There are even guided public tours and PR glitz, including an
occasional VIP or Scientology celebrity tour of the tape and film
facilities. No one asks about the other function we were able to
quietly reinstall after the flap was handled., or the other management
organizations that were quietly added.

	But they're there, just up the hill from the sound stage, not too
far from the spa where the hot springs no longer flow.


[p. 41 - sidebar]
Experience talks


	Some journalists who have been involved with stories about the
world of Scientology were willing to offer their advice on how to
approach the subject:

	Robert Welkos, Los Angeles Times: "It helps to know their PRs, so
the reporter is not intimidated. On the organization, its a
hydra-headed monster. I tried to not let it baffle me. I decided not
to be concerned with how each piece fit into the big strategy. You'll
go nuts if you try to prove this or that is the most important arm of
Scientology. And be prepared [for] lot of contact and pressure."

	John Richardson, Premiere Magazine: "Really do your legwork
first. Research the history. And act from the start as if you are
already in a lawsuit by being straight, honest and keeping good notes
and records. When you get into the interview stage, there will be
attempts to trip you up and challenge what you do and say as well as
attempts to lay groundwork for a case against you. So watch what you
say."

	Curtis Krueger, St. Petersburg Times: "Know the history. It's
good to read "Dianetics" to now the terminology and theory.... [I]t's
a good idea to read books, biographies of Hubbard to know the
controversy. It's important background. [On working with Scientology]:
Expect a lot of runaround, a lot of delaying to get information. It
requires a lot of patience. But if you persist, you'll get it."

	Bill Horn, American Lawyer: "The best tactic is to stick with
basic journalistic principles. Go back for fair comment. Take heavy
notes. I'd suggest tape.... If you have to interview, keep in mind
their tactic of suing so be prepared. And always research before. I
did a lot of calls before contact with the church."

	Bill Press, Los Angeles radio and TV commentator: "Be prepared to
be harassed. They are very protective and aggressive towards anyone
who is writing any story on them. I was at their property on a public
sidewalk doing a stand-up, never even talked to anyone in Scientology,
returned to the TV station, 15 minutes later and before I got there
they were on the phone to the news director demanding to know the
context and wanting equal time. They're very clever, very skilled at
media harassment. I was not prepared for that kind of harassment. I
never ever received anything like that from any other source. They're
an untold story. They've scared a lot of news off. They're getting
away with murder. I say put on your asbestos suit and charge."


	-- Robert Vaughn Young