Subject: BBC stops Scientology commercials
BBC television stops worldwide broadcast of
Munich, Germany
Munich (epd) After protests from German television viewers,
BBC, the British broadcasting company suspended the
worldwide broadcast of commercials for Scientology. Michael
Kayser, the German representative from BBC World, related
this to the epd in Munich. The commercial for the 1950 book
"Dianetics" by Scientology founder Ron Hubbard had been
broadcast several times a day for about three weeks.
The television spot had been released by the British
Broadcasting Advertising Clearance Center. However, since
the Scientology organization is essentially rated more critically
in Germany than it is in Great Britain, the broadcaster took the
commercial off the air prematurely. According to Kayser, BBC
World is received by about ten million households in Germany.
The Bavarian State Institute for New Media in Munich
welcomed the decision. Spokesman Wolfgang Flieger
indicated that according to German media laws, broadcast of
commercials for religious organizations is not permitted.
However, the Media Institute is also bound to the European
Television Policy for Retransmission of Foreign Broadcasts,
which guarantees free reception according to the so-called
"state transmission principle."
Ever since March of this year the Labor Association of State
Media Institutions of Private Broadcasting Companies had
been warning of a strongly financed advertising campaign by
the "Scientology Church." The Sachsen State Media Institute
announced in connection with this that the controversial
organization was prepared to spend about $40 million for an
"information campaign" via the media. The Bavarian institute
had already verified that Scientology had wanted to engage a
private Munich station for commercial broadcast. The radio
spots, however, were not broadcast as planned.
Scientology has been under surveillance by the state
Constitutional Security agencies in Germany since 1997.
Critics speak of an ideologically totalitarian system which
closely observes its members and operates primarily in a
profit-oriented manner. The issue of whether the organization is
a religious congregation or a business has not been uniformly
decided upon by the courts. In 1997 Scientology gave the
number of its members in Germany to the U.N. Human Rights
Commission as 30,000. Experts have since concluded that it is
much less.
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From: GSNews
Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 18:34:29 -0400
commercials for Scientology
May 6, 1999
epd
Unofficial translations from German-speaking countries
Index/link to over 450 articles - http://cisar.org/trnmenu.htm
Informational publications - http://members.tripod.com/German_Scn_News
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