Times business article honored: Digital Lightwave and Scientology crooks
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/07/02/Business/Times_business_articl.shtml
Times business article honored
The article examining the ties between Digital Lightwave and the
Church of Scientology won a Gerald Loeb Award for business reporting.
By Times Staff Writer
St. Petersburg Times business reporter Jeff Harrington and former
reporter Deborah O'Neil were among those honored Monday with the 2003
Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial
Journalism. Harrington and O'Neil won an award for "The CEO and his
Church," an investigation into links between Clearwater's Digital
Lightwave and the Church of Scientology.
It was the first time Times reporters have won the award, which was
established by the late Gerald Loeb, financier and founding partner of
E.F. Hutton, to honor outstanding business journalism. The awards,
which include a cash prize of $2,000, are administered by Anderson
School at UCLA.
The Times' winning entry was published in June 2002. It was based on a
four-month review of thousands of pages of court documents and dozens
of interviews by O'Neil and Harrington. Their research revealed how
the fortunes and misfortunes of Digital Lightwave, a once high-flying
technology company, were affected by influential Scientologists with
close ties to the church.
"This is one of the highest honors in business journalism and we're
very proud of the work," said Managing Editor Neil Brown. "It's also
gratifying because coverage of the church and its affairs is an
important local news story, and local news is our franchise."
Harrington joined the Times in March 1998 as banking and insurance
reporter working out of the Tampa bureau.
O'Neil spent six years at newspaper. She left the Times in August and
is completing a master's degree.
Loeb awards are given in 10 categories; the St. Petersburg Times won
in the medium newspaper category. Other journalists honored included
Floyd Norris, chief financial correspondent for the New York Times,
who received the Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award. Glenn
Kramon, business editor of the New York Times, received the Lawrence
Minard Editor Award.
Winners in other categories included Stephen Labaton of the New York
Times, Alec Klein of the Washington Post and a team of reporters from
the Wall Street Journal.
- Information from wire reports was used in this story.
Read the award-winning article:
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/06/02/TampaBay/The_CEO_and_his_churc.shtml
© St. Petersburg Times
published July 2, 2003
[Note: The
Scientology®
organization has at best estimate approximately
45,000 to 50,000 followers world wide -- contrary to the 8 million figure
that the organization has been claiming for the past few years or so.
While that number continues to drop (thanks in part to the Internet) few
of the remaining followers are even aware of the unending series of police
raids, indictments, and prison terms their leaders and fellow cultists are
subjected to routinely. Few are allowed to know about their organization's
criminal history, or its current racketeering activities. Even fewer of
the cult's remaining followers are privy to their messiah's written
policies which dictates the criminal behavior that keeps getting their
organization raided (see Xenu.NET for
suitable references of Scientology policy) Scientology management
is the problem, not the thousands of honest believers who are good,
honest citizens; themselves victims of Scientology - flr]
The name "Narconon"® is trademarked to the Scientology organization through one of their many front groups. The name "Scientology"® is also trademarked to the "Church" of Scientology. Neither this web page, nor this web site, nor any of the individuals mentioned herein assisting to educate the public about the dangers of the Narconon scam are members of or representitives of the Scientology organization.
E-Mail Fredric L. Rice / The Skeptic Tank