Anderson Cooper has really done it now.
The Church of Scientology has gotten aggressive with its campaign in the wake of Cooper’s week-long “Scientology: A History of Violence,” which aired at the end of March. While that was some time ago, a few months is apparently the amount of time it takes to create the very unusual 95-page glossy publication Freedom magazine handed out on the street Monday morning in front of the CNN offices in Manhattan. The majority of its content has been posted online here for a little while now.
Freedom, “published by the Church of Scientology since 1968,” devotes the entire issue — and accompanying 30 minute DVD — to a attempted takedown of the CNN anchor, the “AC360” crew, and the interview subjects featured in the series. (Please do yourself a favor and check out Cooper’s “statement” at 11:30 in this incredible video.)
As noted in their video, the Church of Scientology now owns its own printing facilities to manufacture publications like these. And Cooper is not the only journalist to be targeted by the group. In 2009, Freedom went “inside the St. Petersburg Times” and in 2007 “exposed” the BBC program “Panorama.”