Reporter Hangs Out in New York With a 'Jewish Scientologist'

At the bottom of today's item about a shaky National Enquirer Scientology exclusive, The Bunker disturber-in-chief Tony Ortega adds a P.S.: As long as we’re taking a look at the way Scientology is being treated by other outlets, we have to draw your attention to an article we were discussing in the comments earlier. A "senior features writer" for fashion website Refinery29 has written a well-researched story that does its best to imagine the situation if Scientology’s public relations about itself were actually based in reality. It’s quite a feat of speculative non-fiction, and we think you’ll find it a real hoot. High, reverse praise. We have since checked out Kelsey Miller's item "Scientology: The Story You Have Not Heard" and as Ortega hints, if the Church has any sense, it will be blasting this link across the digital universe right up to Thanksgiving. From the article: Aside from requesting that we use a pseudonym, Elaine appears to be a typical millennial in most respects. A petite, excitable, 30-year-old woman living in midtown Manhattan, she runs an event-planning business, watches Sex and the City reruns and is dying to get a cat. Elaine is the kind of person you stick with at the cocktail party when you don't know anyone else. She's chatty, open and doesn't scare easy. She swears a lot. Miller first met up with the self-described "Jewish Scientologist," who achieved the state of Clear in 2013 after 11 years of Church adherence, at the organization's Times Square location. The article comes with a footnote that suggests Refinery29 was fully aware of the active commenting that would greet the piece: This is a reported story, written by a respected journalist. At Refinery29 we tell young women’s stories, and this is the story of one young woman. Readers are welcome to discuss the content of the piece and the issues it raises. You are welcome to disagree vehemently! However, attacking and abusing our writer is not an acceptable use of our commenting section. Please let’s have a respectful conversation. — Mikki Halpin, Editorial Director [Editor's Note: A commenter informs us that the footnote was added after publication.] Update (November 21): Ortega has done some more digging about the Refinery29 piece and thinks he knows who "Elaine" is. More importantly, he says that Refinery29 is duping readers by not revealing how closely she is connected to the Church: Bayside Hills dentist Bernard Fialkoff and his daughter Meghan for years have given presentations in local schools on behalf of Scientology’s front groups the Foundation for a Drug-Free World and Youth for Human Rights. Lately, Meghan has been showing up at NYC schools with the last couple of Miss New Yorks. We’ve reached out to the newest Miss New York, Jillian Tapper, to find out if she even realizes that Meghan and her father are longtime Scientologists, that their front groups operate out of Scientology’s Times Square facility, and that the drug concepts in the booklet they hand out are dated and unscientific. We’ll let you know if she gets back to us. Here’s what else we know about Meghan Fialkoff. She’s 30-years-old. She is an event planner with her own company called Meghan Fialkoff Event Productions, and this past May, MF Events put on an art sale at the Scientology org which featured Israeli artists.

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Reporter Hangs Out in New York With a 'Jewish Scientologist'

Richard Horgan

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Richard Horgan