When we requested JP to publish our reply to the accusations against us, the newspaper argued that if Natha wants their reply to be published in the paper, they must make an official request in accordance with a specific legal formulation. By doing so, the paper tried to use bureaucratic excuses to delay and prevent us from the right to reply to the accusations against us. Therefore, we formulated an official request for reply, as stipulated by law, and sent it to JP. Here is this request for reply to one of the articles of 24th May, just in case JP finds another excuse for denying our right to reply.
Dear Jørn Mikkelsen, Editor (Ansvarhavende chefredaktør) of JP
In the article appearing on the front page of JP, from 24.5.09, having the title ''Public funding to people behind sex-sect'', there are several serious mistakes and wrong information, which is causing slander to the name and reputation of Natha yogacenter, its teachers and students. Therefore, we respectfully insist that you shall correct these mistakes by providing the correct information to your readers, by posting a correction in your paper, and in order to undo the damage which had been done by your paper to the work and reputation of so many people. We insist that you give this correction the same weight which you have given the misleading article – by giving it the same place and space in the paper.
Request for reply under the Media Liability Act, Section 36:
The news-paper JP, on 24.5.09, on page 1, article ''Public funding to people behind sex-sect'', published the following information:
1. title: ''Public funding to people behind sex-sect''
2. sub-title: ''Copenhagen commune has in many years been funding a yoga school that is controlled by a Romanian sect-like organisation, which is earning money on sex-services and participation in porn movies''
3. ''The leisure-time-administrators of Copenhagen commune is being accused of being naive and putting their ‘checking-duty’ aside, because the commune is giving around 600.000kr every year to a yoga school, Natha Yoga Center, which according to ex-members from the schools inner-circle is being controlled by a Romanian sex-sect, MISA.''
4. '' In Romania it (MISA) is being accused for trading with women, prostitution and anti-Semitism.''
5. ''The newspaper, Jyllands-posten, can today document how several of the teachers from the yogaschool in copenhagen has been, or still are, earning money on such things as strip shows and porn movies which is supposed to be part of a spiritual development, but which according to the critics is to earn money for the sect.''
6. ''The Priest, Tom Thygesen Daugaard, that once was the leader of the Christian dialogcenter, has been following the development in the organisation says: “It is very naive of Copenhagen Commune to give money to Natha without investigating what is behind. Behind it is a totalitarian sect-organisation which are manipulating young seeking (like people looking for the meaning with their life etc and therefore are very open etc) humans, and are running different sex-services. There are reasons to strongly advice young people against approaching the organisation.''
The information is wrong because:
AD 1a. Natha is not a sect of any kind. No authority on the subject has ever defined Natha as a sect. The sources which are brought in the article and which make this statement are clearly not reliable or authorities on the matter, and therefore cannot provide the grounds of labeling Natha in such a way.
The 'ex-members of the school' are in fact two persons who have their own clear interest to defame Natha:
1.Kim Schmock – who has a legal dispute with Natha over a property of 4-5 million Kroner;
2. ''Jesper'' – who has a personal vendetta against several instructors from Natha, for reasons which are personal to him.
The other source in the article which is supporting this affirmation is Tom Thygesen Daugaard from ''Dialog Center'' – this can not be considered an authority on the subject of sects and religions, since academically recognized authorities on the subject, such as - Mikael Rothstein professor of the science of religion at university of Copenhagen (www.skeptica.dk/1999/rothstein.htm) , Peter Lodberg president of the All Danish Church Council (www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/14029:--Dialogcentret-kritiserer-for-ensidighed), and Tim Jensen of Syddansk Universitet (www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/14029:--Dialogcentret-kritiserer-for-ensidighed) – all regard them as very questionable sources. Professor Rothstein even states ''The DC is devoid of any scientific expertise and it would therefore be completely grotesque if Danish authorities listened to their opinions on others'' (http://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/14050:Kirke---tro--Vrede-over-centers-advarsel-mod-frikirker). Therefore, there is not provided any reliable support for such a serious affirmation. We remind you that the journalist ethical code, section A, point 2, states ''Criticism should be exercised to news sources, especially when their statements may be coloured by personal interest or injurious intent'' – this has not been done.
AD 1b. There are clear evidence that Natha is not a sect - priest Karl Eric Nylund. Doctor of theology and arguably Sweden's foremost authority on sects, following a special investigation which was done by the request of the Swedish Supreme Court, has concluded in his official report that MISA and the other yoga schools which are a part of the Atman International Yoga Federation (Natha being one of those schools) are not sects and that they have nothing in common with the structure of a sect: "...Therefore, in the MISA case, we can find none of the criteria defining manipulative sects.'' (www.natha.dk/en/news/press-release-coming-soon/swedish-expert-karl-erik-nylunds-report-on-misa-and-gregorian-bivolaru.html). Swedish Sociologists from the research company Skop-Research made an investigation of both Natha and MISA. This investigation was lead by Dr. Örjan Hultåker, and concluded that neither Natha nor MISA may be considered as sects: ''Given that this movement lacks any revolutionary ideology and it is part of society there is no reason to consider it a sect.'' (http://www.yogaesoteric.net/content.aspx?item=3865?=EN).
AD 1c. There is also no proof that Natha is an organization which is focused on sex. The only sources which are supporting these claims are unreliable and invalid – in this context all that was stated in point AD 1a. is valid also for this point. Supplementary, the curriculum of the courses that are thought in Natha are available (www.natha.dk/da/news/press-release-coming-soon/appendix-1-curricculum-1st-year-yoga-courses.html) and prove that the sexual topic is little represented in the program and only as theory related to the spiritual improvement of the sexual experience.
AD 2a. Natha yoga center is not controlled by any Romanian sect-like organization – it is not controlled by any organization at all. As Natha's statues clearly show, it is a non-profit, ''people enlightening association'' with democratic institutions. Natha is a part of the Atman International Yoga Federation, with which it has a collaboration in respect to teaching material, however, Natha is completely independent from an administrative and financial perspective.
AD 2b. The yoga school MISA (the ''Romanian organization'' that the article refers to) is not a sect-like organization. As proof, we mention the information which is presented in point AD 1b.
AD 2c. Natha yoga center has never earned money from sex-services or porn movies, nor had it ever been involved in such activities.
AD 2d. There is no real proof for these accusations (the accusations to which points AD 2a, AD 2b and AD 2c answer): Natha being controlled by another organization, MISA being a sect-like organization, Natha earning money from sex-services and porn movies. The only sources which are supporting these claims are very questionable – all that was stated in point AD 1a. is also valid for this point.
AD 2e. If this statement is in the quality of factual information – it should be supported by hard evidence, yet this is not done anywhere in the article. If this statement is in the quality of a comment by an individual – it should be made clear that that is the case, since as it is put in the article, it induces the impression of being factual information, when in reality it is not. We remind you that the journalist ethical code, section A, point 5, states: ''It should be clear what is factual information and what is comment'' – this was not done.
AD 2f. These accusations were already directed against Natha in the past (15.11.04) by Dialog Center. Even in spite of the fact that DC had just made their slandering attack, Københavns Kommune still started the standard process of recognizing Natha Yogacenter as a People enlightening association with a thorough investigation of all the courses and workshops of the school. Natha yoga center started to receive support from the Commune in May 2005, following an investigation which took place from November 2004 until May 2005. This is indicating that the Commune found no proof for these accusations. This is clear and official proof to the falsity of the claim in this segment of the article.
AD 3a. Natha yoga center is not controlled by MISA. Natha and MISA are both members in the Atman International Federation of Yoga, and are having a collaboration in regards to the teaching material, yet are completely independent form each other from an administrative and financial perspective. As Natha's statues clearly show, it is a non-profit, ''people enlightening association'' with democratic institutions.
AD 3b. MISA is not a sect of any kind. See point AD 1b.
AD 3c. The sources for this affirmation are highly questionable - the 'ex-members of the school' are in fact two persons who have their own clear interest to defame Natha:
1.Kim Schmock – who has a legal dispute with Natha over a property of 4-5 million Kroner;
2. ''Jesper'' – who has a personal vendetta against several instructors from Natha, for reasons which are personal to him.
The Journalist ethical code, section A, point 2, states: ''Criticism should be exercised to news sources, especially when their statements may be coloured by personal interest or injurious intent'' – therefore, these sources could not be used in the article in this way. The journalist ethical code, section A, point 1, states: ''It is mass media's duty to bring accurate and fast information. So far it is possible, it should check whether the information given is correct'' – this was not done.
AD 4a. There are no accusations against MISA in Romania – there is a trial against 21 yoga teachers and yoga students from MISA.
AD 4b. The accusations in the above mentioned trial are not as stated in the article. The 21 yoga students and teachers are accused of: human trafficking (strictly related to the Romanian law on “voluntary work” and they are not related to any sexual activity – according to the official documents from the trial) and constituting such a group.
AD 5a. Natha yogacenter has never earned money from such activities as strip shows or porn-movies.
AD 5b. Natha is not responsible for the actions that any yoga student or yoga teacher does in his/her private life.
AD 5c. There is no real proof to support such accusations – that such activities take place to earn money for Natha yoga center. The sources for this information are highly questionable – see point AD 1a., since all that is stated there is also valid for this point – and therefore this accusation should have not been published, conform the journalist ethical code, section A, point 2.
AD 5d. Natha is not a sect – see points AD 1a. and AD 1b.
AD 6a. Tom Thygesen Daugaard from ''Dialog Center'' cannot be considered as a reliable source: academically recognized authorities on the subject of sects, such as - Mikael Rothstein professor of the science of religion at university of Copenhagen (www.skeptica.dk/1999/rothstein.htm) , Peter Lodberg president of the All Danish Church Council (www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/14029:--Dialogcentret-kritiserer-for-ensidighed), and Tim Jensen of Syddansk Universitet (www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/14029:--Dialogcentret-kritiserer-for-ensidighed) – all regard the Dialog Center as very questionable sources. Professor Rothstein even states ''The DC is devoid of any scientific expertise and it would therefore be completely grotesque if Danish authorities listened to their opinions on others'' (http://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/14050:Kirke---tro--Vrede-over-centers-advarsel-mod-frikirker). Therefore, this source cannot be presented as an expert on the subject of Natha, and JP should not publish such serious accusations from such an unreliable source. We remind you that the journalist ethical code, section A, point 2, states ''Criticism should be exercised to news sources, especially when their statements may be coloured by personal interest or injurious intent'' – this has not been done.
AD 6b. The accusations in this segment are completely false. Natha is not a sect, it is not controlled by a sect, it is not manipulating any body and it has never run any sex services - as proof, see points AD 1a., AD 1b., AD 1c., AD 2a., AD 2b., AD 2c.
AD 6c. The Dialog Center has already made these accusations against Natha in 15.11.04. None the less, the commune, after investigating the yoga school and its activities, arrived at the conclusion that Natha Yoga Center deserves the status of ''people's enlightening association'' – and by this indicating that they found no proof for these accusations. Therefore, the claim that “It is very naive of Copenhagen Commune to give money to Natha without investigating what is behind'' – is false. The commune has already investigated and decided that Natha yoga center deserves the status of ''people's enlightening association'' and financial support from the commune.
On behalf of Natha Yoga Center, I must therefore ask for reply under Chapter 6 of the Media Liability Act.
Please confirm that you will bring our reply as soon as possible and no later than Monday 22.6.09.
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