PODCAST: Steve Cannane checks in after reporting from the war in Ukraine

One of our favorite people in the whole world is Australian journalist Steve Cannane. We first became aware of Steve’s work because he was tearing it up at the ABC with story after story about Scientology in the land Down Under. In particular, he was the first reporter to interview Valeska Paris, who alleged that for more than ten years she had been a prisoner on Scientology’s cruise ship the Freewinds. We then interviewed Valeska for the Village Voice, and it became the most popular story we ever published there.Today Valeska is suing Scientology for labor trafficking in Tampa, and it’s been several years since Steve’s terrific book about Scientology in Australia, Fair Game, came out and was sued in court — but not by Scientology. (Go figure.) And let’s not forget that part of Steve’s book tour included stopping by HowdyCon 2017 in Denver!We wanted to catch up with Steve, especially after seeing some of the reporting he’s done from the war in Ukraine. Amazing stuff!Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features:Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in historyAvast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at seaOverheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a timePast is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientologyRandom Howdy: Your daily dose of the CaptainHere’s the link to today’s post at tonyortega.orgAnd whatever you do, subscribe to this Substack so you get our breaking stories and daily features right to your email inbox every morning… This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyortega.substack.com/subscribe