LA $cientology PR operative Kat Tebar showed up at the Mean Magazine (www.meanmag.com) office today with $4 in an envelope, to purchase a copy of the issue featuring journalist Lisa Derrick's article on Jack Parsons and his relationship with L Ron Hubbard. While at the office, she made every attempt to try and discredit Derrick, calling her a "bigot," who is out to get Scientology. The editor's response was priceless:

"Look. If we published something critical of the Catholic church, I don't think the Pope would send someone by our office." He went on to inform Tebar that she is welcome to buy an ad or write a letter to the magazine, otherwise, she should "find something better to do."

Fortunately, the editors at Mean have a sense of humor. That wasn't the case when I filed a story for Rolling Stone about the incredible life and tragic suicide of MIT prodigy, Philip Gale. Heber Jentszch made endless phone calls to my editors and sent a Dead Agent pack of lies about me to the magazine. In turn, I got weird requests from my editor, asking me to respond to the accusations leveled by the cult. I declined, and Rolling Stone people stopped returning my calls. In the end, while $cientology seems the victor, the exact opposite is true. Not only did I get most of my money from the cowards at Rolling Stone, the story ran as a cover story in New Times Los Angeles (www.NewTimesLA.com) and has since been syndicated and webbed throughout the world. The story wound up reaching more readers than it would have tucked in the back pages of a once great magazine that now stoops to put The Backstreet Boys (or was it 'N Sync?) on their cover.

Months after Rolling Stone went dark on me, I spoke with an editor who had since left the magazine. I asked him what really happened regarding my story. His repsonse: "You didn't hear it from me, but Jann Wenner [the publisher of Rolling Stone] is best friends with John Travolta."

To Scientology PR:

Knowing full well that this falls on deaf ears dulled by outdated Hubbard policy, take note for when you one day blow the cult:

For every negative story "killed" as a result of Scientology harrassment, at least a dozen such stories appear in oracles throughout the world. In fact, journalists like myself wind up making a cottage industry out of exposing your crime syndicate.

Your efforts towards censorship are like the porno industry to a chronic masturbator. You supply endless fodder for negative media scrutiny. Keep up the good work.

Mark Ebner, Journalist, SP4
www.DrasticMedia.com

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