BBC 'Video ambushed'

This is the Church of Scientology's way of dealing with the BBC's self-proclaimed flagship current affairs show, Panorama — turn the cameras on them.

Reporter John Sweeney looses it in the "Museum of Death" in Hollywood.

Here's Sweeney's response.

According to the Guardian:

Exhibit at Psychiatry: An Industry of Death, a Scientology-run museum in Los Angeles, portraying psychiatry as being responsible for Hitler and the Holocaust

Sweeney lost his temper while visiting the Church of Scientology's exhibition, 'Psychiatry: Industry of Death', which uses graphic images to attack psychiatry. Sweeney said that, having dogged him for six days, Davis accused him of giving an easy ride to one of his interviewees, a critic of Scientology, even though he had not heard the full interview. It was then that Sweeney, his face contorted with anger and his finger jabbing, began yelling at the top of his voice: 'You were not there at the beginning of the interview! You were not there! You did not hear or record all the interview!'

Sweeney, a former Observer journalist, admits he went too far. 'I am hugely embarrassed,' he said. 'I look like an exploding tomato and shout like a jet engine and every time I see it it makes me cringe. The moment it happened I said sorry. I let the side down and the BBC down and I am ashamed. But I felt I was being brainwashed and if people see the full clip I think they will have more sympathy with me'.

The journalist has been disciplined after an internal investigation. 'I've been arse-kicked but I haven't been fired,' he added. 'I feel mortified. There is no one on this planet more irritated then me. Fool, Sweeney, fool. It was like an animal reaction to a series of images and pressures. I felt they were trying to control my mind. I can't wait to get back to Zimbabwe: hiding in the backs of cars from Robert Mugabe's goons is a damn sight easier.'

Here's the BBC's official response (embedding withheld by request), where Sweeney ends up literally pursuing a raging Scientology spokesperson, after saying 'some people think you're a sinister cult'.

They're letting me embed a preview for tomorrow night's show though - why different?

John Sweeney investigates the Church of Scientology, endorsed by some major Hollywood celebrities, but which continues to face the criticism that it is less of a religion and more of a cult. Some former members claim the Church uses a mind control technique to put opponents at a psychological disadvantage. During the course of his investigation, Sweeney is shouted at, spied on, visited in his hotel at midnight and chased around the streets of LA by strangers in hire cars.
Airdate: Monday 14 May, 8:30pm BST, on BBC1 UK. It will also be available online for all at http://bbc.co.uk/panorama

This clip from the 1987 BBC Panorama "The Road to Total Freedom" shows how Scientology uses cameras to record outsiders of the church and part of an interview with the international president of Scientology, Heber Jenztch