On Taking the Scientologists' Shilling - 2010-02-23
On Taking the Scientologists' Shilling February 23, 2010,
The reporters in the project were Russell Carollo, who won a Pulitzer for investigative journalism at Dayton's Daily News in 1998, and Christopher Szechenyi, formerly a producer at 60 Minutes. The product's editor was Steve Weinberg, former executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors and a longtime faculty member of the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
Weinberg told Kurtz he was paid $5,000 for his work, which was "kind of like editing a Columbia Journalism Review piece." The project was an "unusual situation" and "certainly [not] something just any reporter would do." But "my role was more limited, and I can certainly use the money these days." He said the Scientologists can put the report "in a drawer" if they wish, but if they publish it they must publish it in full.