Anderson Cooper: “Guys, I appreciate you talking again. Thank you very much.”

Anti-Scientology apostates (more or less in unison): “Thank you, Anderson. Thank you.”

Thus Anderson Cooper closed out his series on the Church of Scientology, and thus his apostates bid him farewell. In contrast to the anchorman’s steely-eyed interrogation of Church officials, Cooper’s last exchange with this self-proclaimed posse of tough guys is strangely intimate, almost touching. He wears blue jeans. He listens to their woes with sympathetically furrowed brow. He carefully prefaces every question with a first name:

“Marty, why didn’t you...?” or “Jeff, why would...”

And they respond in kind: “You know, Anderson, you asked about...”

There is even a gentle nod to an apostate heard in absentia and he is simply “Mike.”

So, yes, Anderson has come to believe in his “guys” and they, in turn, believe in Anderson.

But what’s absolutely unbelievable is that Cooper thinks he can get away with this hogwash and pull off what even the greatest hucksters in history failed to accomplish, i.e., fool all the people all the time.

So in the immortal words of Cooper himself, let’s start “keeping ‘em honest” by presenting his Posse of Apostates as they truly are:

Marty Rathbun, a former external affairs officer, removed from authority within the Church seven years ago for gross malfeasance and violent behavior. To be sure, he is a self-proclaimed psychotic with a long history of violence. He committed 50 separate acts of assault against co-workers. He is also potentially homicidal and, in fact, nearly killed a man with his fists. That he models himself after an ax-wielding lunatic from a Stephen King horror story is likewise a matter of record, and he is not joking when announcing his appearance with a trademark “Heeeeere’s Marty!”

Mike Rinder, another erstwhile external affairs officer removed from post for gross malfeasance and unstable behavior. But the real clue to his character lies in the fact he was Rathbun’s

pet punching bag. Indeed, the two men worked together on numerous occasions and their relationship was frequently tinged with what can only be described as sadomasochistic impulses. That Rinder now refers to Rathbun as his “best good buddy” is yet another strange twist in this story.

Tom DeVocht, a former Church construction manager and still another with a proclivity for violence. (He especially enjoyed wrestling Rinder to the ground.) By his own admission, he is also an unrepentant liar and, in fact, is proud of it. Indeed, there is nothing wrong with lying for financial gain, he boasts, so long as “you don’t get caught.”

Amy Scobee. She is another dismissed from any position of authority within the Church years earlier—specifically for sexual misconduct. When she failed to curb her libidinous behavior, she was ultimately expelled.

Jeff Hawkins, a former Church copywriter who claims to have left Scientology to avoid an overseas transfer—possibly to Australia, possibly South Africa. In fact, however, the transfer was a figment of his own imagination, and he actually left when his own sordid misconduct came to light.  He is also a member of a cyberterrorist organization known as Anonymous that remains under federal investigation for hate crimes against the Church of Scientology—with two of its members already prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to prison for said hate crimes.

Steve Hall, a former Church scriptwriter with a dismal production record. He currently serves as “webmaster” for the Posse and ekes out a living scooping doggie droppings from suburban lawns. He is further known within the Posse for apparently creating the universe (not necessarily in seven days) and claims he was previously both Jesus and the Buddha (not necessarily in that order).

Although not formally on the CNN payroll, all above-mentioned names purportedly enjoyed free airfare, free lodging, free meals and limousine service to and from Manhattan. After all, the moment AC360 sat them in front of a camera, these people were no longer merely violent, delusional and deviant; they were suddenly CNN sources.

They were by no means, however, media stars and even their allotted fifteen minutes of fame proved ephemeral.

Viz: Between Cooper’s introduction of the Posse on a Monday and his sweet adieu on Friday, a full third of the AC360 audience had already tuned out, and no wonder what with critical reviews like this one:

“Honestly, this is getting tiresome...”

Followed by:

“Somebody please wake me up when this is over...”

After which it was:

“Anderson, you jackass!”

There was a lot more about the Posse itself—how Rathbun looked like he was in “extreme turmoil,” how the rest of them “sounded like a broken record” and how it felt “like an episode of Judge Judy except without the judging bit”

But let us now replay the record and scrutinize the evidence in light of what Cooper himself kept exhorting through those five dreary nights, i.e., that we must make up our own minds and judge for ourselves.

To which we now reply: As you wish, Anderson...only this time it’s the full story and the whole truth.

The Least Trusted Name in News

AC360: See Anderson Cooper Run for Ratings

If you would like to know why the network that calls itself “the most trusted name in news” is the least trustworthy, Freedom Magazine brings you, in living color, what Anderson Cooper refused to show.

With the ratings for Anderson Cooper 360 in a free fall over the past year and rumors rampant he is bailing out for another network, CNN had one final act of desperation up its sleeve.

CNN became the latest media outlet to buy into the increasingly over-the-top, bizarre tales spread by four admitted liars leading a self-proclaimed “Posse” of expelled former Church ofScientology staffers. Their yearlong orchestrated campaign exploits the media to run stories which attack their former Church, attack their former friends and even attack their own families — parents, wives and children. It’s all part of an effort to aggrandize themselves and make money by promoting everything from their self-published rants to their perverted style of psychological counseling and “deprogramming.”

In doing so, the once-great network — that nearly 20 years ago set the standard for journalism during the Persian Gulf War — broadcast five nights of so-called reports on the Church of Scientology, becoming the mouthpiece for a criminal group of cyberterrorists. It used salacious, false allegations to try to salvage a program whose ratings have been so anemic that at times only about a half-million viewers tune in — roughly the population of a mid-size city.

Far from conducting an actual investigation, CNN was simply the latest stop on the “Posse’s” anti-Scientology media tour. There was literally no original reporting — just a regurgitation of long disproven allegations that sourced from the Internet, and which dozens of outraged Church officials refuted with statements sworn under oath. This should have raised the antenna of any seasoned journalist, especially one who portrays himself as a skeptic, as Anderson Cooper does.

Yet in Cooper’s desperation to hold together his already band-aid-laden “investigation”—given one allegation after the next was shredded by documented evidence the Church provided — he chose to stop even informing the Church of the allegations. Specifically, after demanding and conducting an interview with a Church spokesman in July 2009, Cooper thereafter refused to ever again speak to any Church official. He also refused to provide any further specifics on allegations made about the Church and likewise refused to interview Church officials on two occasions — in New York and Los Angeles — including the so-called “victims” of the allegations.

Only after Church officials traveled to CNN headquarters in Atlanta and convinced CNN Corporate to force Cooper to interview them, did any such interview occur. Yet still, Cooper refused to provide specifics of allegations being made, all to ensure there would be no response to the lies Cooper admitted could not be substantiated with any proof.

And so we get:

A blatantly disprovable allegation more suited to a supermarket tabloid, yet so sensational that Cooper aired it no less than 14 times over five nights of shows — all while he smugly told his audience there was “no proof” of the allegation. Although at the same time, and out of the other side of his mouth, he urged viewers to “decide for themselves.” Had Cooper ever told the Church the substance of the allegation, he could have saved himself the embarrassment he now so rightfully deserves. Because there is proof the allegations are lies — miles of video footage—the exact sort of “proof” Cooper would have wanted, even demanded, if he were not merely pretending to be a journalist. (Watch the video: A “Beating Every Day” While 10,000 Miles Away.)

Then again, Cooper refused repeated invitations for open access to all Church facilities. His refusal to see for himself the specific Church facility at the center of the allegations again proves fatal in the post-broadcast review. As in, “pictures don’t lie.” (Watch the video: A Worker’s Paradise “Slave Camp.”)

At the heart of it all is Cooper’s utter lack of investigatory acumen. But even that is being charitable. Because while media have long been reporting on Cooper’s incompetence — a debate best left to his journalistic peers — what is incontrovertible is that he is positively dishonest. How else can one explain that after a single rushed interview in July 2009, nine months prior to broadcast, Cooper refused any further information from the Church ?

Then again, how else does one explain that the show was so obviously problematic to CNN its airing was put on hold in November 2009? Or the fact that it was suddenly pulled out of mothballs in March 2010 without a single communication to the Church in all that time?

But most damning to any remaining credibility Cooper may have had, is when he told his audience he was presenting the results of a “nine-month investigation.” Investigation? He never once stepped foot in a Church and the sensational allegations he presented were taken from interviews recorded almost a year before broadcast. So Freedom presents what actually happened in Scientology during the nine-month period Cooper claims to have spent “investigating.” (Watch the video: Anderson Cooper’s Definition of “An Investigation.”)

All of this begs the question, Why did CNN try to ambush the Church in a headlong rush to air anything from a highly discreditable group of sources ?

It’s a well-known fact that CNN’s Anderson Cooper and his AC360 are in trouble. “Cooper’s Ratings Crash,” as Media Bistro put it, while the Los Angeles Times said Cooper “continued to struggle big time.” The New York Times noted that Cooper’s viewership is so weak he sometimes loses to reruns on the lesser-viewed HLN and MSNBC networks. But possibly Business

Insider answered it best: “In a Race for Ratings, CNN’s Anderson Cooper Goes After Scientologists.”

In fact, the only thing that seems to have mattered was ratings, no doubt an even more urgent priority after viewership for AC360 hit an embarrassing new low. So, in desperation, CNN dusted off the unsupported and stale “investigation” that had sat on a shelf since last year, aired the bitter rants of a handful of disgruntled former staffers — and promoted it as if it was a groundbreaking Edward R. Murrow report. (See A Timeline of CNN’s “Investigation.”)

After hearing nothing from AC360 since November 2009 (and conducting only one interview with the Church’s spokesperson, in July 2009), in the last week of March 2010, the Church was hit with an out-of-the-blue CNN press release announcing the series would air at the beginning of the week. A few hours later, the Church’s spokesperson received an obligatory “

FYI, the show is airing” e-mail from a low-level CNN producer.

The gist of the message: AC360 is immediately moving from 0 mph to 100 mph on the story without so much as making a phone call to find out if, in the past nine months, any update is needed. CNN’s suddenly aggressive attitude can no doubt only be explained if Cooper’s program is in fact on shaky ground, either because it is starved for viewers or because the rumors are true Cooper may jump to CBS—that is, if they’ll even have him anymore. For while CNN may have caved in to Cooper’s hissy fit over their refusal to air his investigation, when it finally did air, the public tuned out in droves and Cooper’s ratings continue their descent to the center of the earth.