A television news anchor said he was fired from his morning anchor job in Arizona last month after publishing a story about the late Lisa Marie Presley’s relationship with the Church of Scientology.
Dodge Landesma, 32, told the New York Post that after two months at his new job at KYMA in Yuma, Arizona, everything was going well.
“Everything went smoothly,” he said.
Until Landesman wrote the screenplay for a 1 minute and 45 second video about Lisa Marie’s involvement in Danny Masterson’s rape trial after her death last month.
The article prompted an almost immediate call from Scientology’s longtime spokeswoman, Karin Pouw, asking him to delete the story.
Aspiring news anchor Dodge Landesman, 32, said things were going well at his new job in Yuma, Arizona, until he published an article about the late Lisa Marie Presley
Lisa Marie Presley died last month at the age of 54, having been a Scientologist until about a decade ago when she decided to leave the religion
Masterson, a lifelong Scientologist, has stood and will stand trial again on three counts of rape involving allegations by multiple prosecutors about incidents between 2001 and 2003. His Los Angeles trial ended with a hung jury late last year, and two days before Presley’s death, an LA judge announced that a retrial was being pursued.
In Landesman’s article entitled “Lisa Marie Presley Planned to Dismantle Scientology Before She Died,” Elvis’ late daughter claimed that she was being pressured by a member of the church to testify for the prosecution in the original Masterson rape case been set to persuade the prosecutor not to report him to the police.
The play claimed that she was never called before the jury.
Landesmon wrote in the article, which has not been reviewed by KYMA bosses, “It’s important to dig a little deeper into the death of Lisa Marie Presley.”
He wrote that Presley and Masterson were once good friends until she left the church around 2014.
Presley, he claimed, would “show up and testify in support of her friend, who was one of Masterson’s alleged victims.”
“She was preparing to explain that her friend had told her she had been raped that night,” Landesman wrote.
The Church of Scientology of Los Angeles building on Sunset Boulevard. Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw reportedly called Landesman to ask him to delete the story
Masterson, a longtime Scientologist, is currently facing a retrial on multiple counts of rape. His previous trial ended in a hung jury late last year
Landesman said his network bosses told him his article was “sloppy” and that they feared a lawsuit from the Church of Scientology
The aspiring TV presenter, who attended journalism school and worked in several small outlets across the country, said longtime Scientology spokesperson Karin Pouw called him after his article was published and asked him to delete it.
He says he told her he would look at it, but he didn’t take the piece off.
Two hours later, then again the next day, she called and asked him again to delete the piece.
At the time, Landesman was called to a meeting with his bosses, the news director and the station’s general manager.
Landesman told the Post they asked his sources and told them his article was “sloppy.”
“I told them I got the information from Variety and other reliable sources. They said they would fight to keep my job with the company and I thanked them.’
A few days later, however, Landesman says he was told by his superiors that he had been too reckless and they fired him.
“They also said that the company was afraid of a lawsuit,” he said. “It was because they became afraid of Scientology. They decided to hide from a billion dollar paper tiger.”
Actor Danny Masterson (L) stands with his attorney Thomas Mesereau as he is charged with three counts of rape in separate incidents between 2001 and 2003 in Los Angeles Superior Court in Los Angeles. Last month, a judge said the court would open a retrial
Scientology’s global headquarters in Clearwater, Florida, called the Flag Building
The Post reported that the station’s news director, Ernesto Romero, would not comment on personnel matters and that the editor’s note, which replaced Landesman’s story online, speaks for itself.
The note reads, “Using editorial discretion, NPG of Yuma-El Centro Broadcasting, LLC has decided to unpublish this feature. After careful review and in light of information that came to light after the article was published, Yuma-El Centro Broadcasting, LLC’s NPG has determined that it can no longer stand behind the article because, among other things, it contains aspects of the opinion of the author.’
Veteran Scientology journalist Tony Ortega told the Post that while Landesman’s article got some details wrong, the gist of it was “essentially correct.”
“You see, Landesman’s play wasn’t great. It didn’t really get the details of Presley’s involvement in the Masterson affair right.
“But essentially it was true that she did plan to expose Scientology’s wrongdoing at some point after being involved for many years,” he said.