MEDIA WATCH | TAMPA BAY TIMES

Tampa Bay Times Harboring Bigotry and Discrimination

You consistently go to ex-Scientologists and anti-Scientologists to interview. There is a handful of those, but there are over ten thousand Scientologists in Tampa Bay alone, who are very happy with the Church and who can honestly say that Scientology has changed their lives vastly for the better. Yet only the small group of dissidents are being listened to and quoted. This is discrimination.

September 4, 2017

Tampa Bay Times
Saint Petersburg, FL 33701

Hello Tracey,

I have read some of your recent articles regarding the Church of Scientology. You are a bigot.

Every year, the Church hosts dozens of events for local, non-Scientology nonprofits at the Fort Harrison Hotel. The Church gives these groups free service and helps them raise money for their own causes. No strings attached. Why is this not mentioned? Every month, the Church puts on free events at the Information Center on Cleveland Street. World class singers perform. These events are free to the general public, never mentioned in the Times.

Church supported groups do enormous and constant work, here and internationally, to effectively eradicate drug abuse, criminality, illiteracy and abuse of innocent people. Scientologists spend months building Winter Wonderland and creating Easter Egg Hunts every year, for all children and adults to enjoy. Scientologists have trash clean-up campaigns in the streets of Clearwater and the Beach, and they helped to create the MLK center in the Greenwood area. These are just some of the things Scientologists do for the community. They do it voluntarily, in their own free time, using their private money—simply because they want to help society.

Yet I never see articles on any of the above activities in Tampa Bay Times. I only see negative articles. What other conclusion should I come to?

Rebecca Weiss
Clearwater, Fla.