Steve Cannane’s statement as publisher settles ‘Deep Sleep’ lawsuit over his book 'Fair Game'

We were stunned to see the news in the Guardian that Steve Cannane’s publisher, HarperCollins, had not only settled the six-year lawsuit over his book Fair Game, but that it was issuing an apology, and according to the Guardian, Cannane himself would be required not to say anything.

Say what?

If you remember, Cannane’s book was one of the very best about Scientology, and specifically about founder L. Ron Hubbard’s outlandish activities in Australia. In chapter after chapter, Cannane detailed Scientology’s outrageous controversies and abuses with high relief.

However, in one chapter Steve threw the church a bone, pointing out that Scientology’s virulent anti-psychiatry hatred had led it to help uncover a house of horrors, the things going on at Chelmsford Hospital and a misguided “deep sleep” drug therapy that resulted in the deaths of numerous patients.

The whole thing had been exposed in a Royal Commission, which Cannane cited, and included the names of several doctors and administrators who were responsible for the horrific experimentations.

Well, it was two of those named figures who sued the book for defamation, something that wouldn’t have gone anywhere in the US, because a journalist who cites official government investigative conclusions is protected by our First Amendment.

Australia doesn’t have a First Amendment, and in that country’s crazy legal setup, Cannane and his publisher were forced to prove the allegations against these two all over again more than 30 years later, despite what the Royal Commission had found.

They gamely did so, putting on experts who testified that what happened at Chelmsford was as horrific as the government had reported decades ago.

In her 2020 ruling dismissing the defamation claims, Justice Jayne Jagot wrote, “The applicants…relied on their own evidence which was found to be dishonest. In these circumstances, the idea that Mr. Cannane was obliged to give the applicants another opportunity to present their dishonest and self-serving version of events, which had been so comprehensively rejected in the Royal Commission report, is untenable….it was simply unnecessary to give the applicants any further opportunity to attempt to rewrite history.”

Despite that drubbing, however, the two appealed, and a higher court found, incredibly, that it was unfair that the original finders of fact in the Chelmsford inquiry (who are now generally dead) could not be cross-examined. The court remanded the case for retrial.

But with the case already costing HarperCollins millions, the publisher decided to settle. OK, that’s not hard to understand. But it was shameful to see HarperCollins apologizing to these two horrific experimenters (one of whom died during the litigation) and saying it was withdrawing certain ‘allegations.’

Allegations? These were established facts.

Cannane has always stood by what’s in his book, and he has never apologized for it.

And as far his not being able to say anything, that part thankfully turned out not to be the case. We checked with him, and we got the feeling that he’d like to say a lot about what’s going on, but he’s restricted in what he can say. He did send us this statement for publication…

I wrote this book to expose the truth about abuses inside the Church of Scientology. Little did I know that it would end in a lengthy legal battle with someone who was not a Scientologist and was mentioned by name only once in my book.

I wanted to fight this case all the way to the end. 

However, I cannot expect HarperCollins to provide a limitless supply of funds to defend my book in a case that has already dragged on for six years and has cost millions of dollars. Even if we won at retrial, it could have been appealed again.

I understand why HarperCollins felt the need to settle and I sincerely want to thank them, and all the lawyers involved, who defended my book and fought for so long.

In my book, when writing about Chelmsford hospital I relied primarily on the findings of the Royal Commission that looked into deep sleep therapy. 

I agree with Justice Jagot, now of the High Court of Australia, when she initially dismissed the defamation claim in the Federal Court. 

On appeal, the Full Federal Court found that the book was defamatory, overturned Justice Jagot’s judgment and ordered a retrial. I am very disappointed I won’t have the opportunity to defend the book in a retrial.

I strongly believe defamation law and the way it is interpreted by some judges in Australia not only undermines freedom of speech, but also makes public interest journalism far more difficult than it should be. This is not healthy for our democracy and limits our ability to hold powerful people to account.

I believe that in the US, the UK or any EU nation, this case would have been thrown out at the first hurdle.

There’s no doubt he’s right about that. Here in the US, you can’t sue a reporter for citing official government documents.

It’s just a shame Australia can’t get its act together and get some real legal protection for journalists, especially those willing to expose the corrupt and the powerful.

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